On July 12th Gilead, a US-based pharmaceutical company, announced their plans to license four HIV drugs and one fixed-dose combination to the Medicines Patent Pool. This marks the first agreement between the Medicines Patent Pool and a pharmaceutical company. (woohoo!) Although this is a significant step toward increasing global access to affordable meds, a few concerns remain. The agreement limits manufacturing to one country – India – which in turn limits competition (an important mechanism to drive costs down) and people living in middle-income countries – including China and Brazil – are excluded. You can find a more detailed explanation here.
Wondering what a patent pool is? This animation explains it nicely.
My Rights Versus Yours 