UAEM

Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) is an initiative linking members of universities in the US, the UK, and Canada who are concerned that the research, patenting and licensing policies of academic institutions are restricting access to medicines in poor countries. As members of these institutions of higher learning, we believe that universities have an opportunity and a responsibility to improve access to affordable medicines throughout the world. In cooperation with top experts in international medicine access and technology transfer, UAEM has created a unique contract that universities can adopt to increase access to medical innovations in developing countries while maintaining or even improving drug development. Here at Berkeley, students from law, medicine, business, public health, and the sciences are working to raise awareness of the global impact of Berkeley's licensing policies, as well as advocating changes in university licensing practices that will improve access to medicines in developing countries.

Project mission:

Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) has a two-fold mission:

1. to urge universities to ensure that lifesaving medical products developed in campus labs are accessible in developing countries; and
2. to facilitate and promote research on neglected diseases–diseases that devestate poor countries, but predominantly affect those too poor to attract private-sector R&D investment.

In both cases, UC Berkeley is well-placed to make a difference.

Potential impact:

According to the World Health Organization, about ten million people—most of them in developing countries—die needlessly every year because they do not have access to existing medicines and vaccines. Countless others suffer from neglected tropical diseases, such as sleeping sickness, lymphatic filariasis, and blinding trachoma. Because these neglected diseases predominantly affect the poor, they attract very little research and development funding, which leads directly to a paucity of safe and effective treatment options.

Required resources:

1. Total project needs: $5,000

Our sponsors:

Berkeley Center for Law and Technology
Boalt Hall School of Law
Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC)

Project page URL:

• http://uaem.berkeley.edu
• http://www.essentialmedicine.org
• http://consensus.essentialmedicine.org