Unlocking the potential of socially responsible licensing of medical innovations

Wemos has published a guidance brief for the application of socially responsible licensing (SRL) of publicly funded medical innovations. With SRL, universities and other public research institutes can attach conditions when licensing medical innovations to private companies, helping to ensure that these innovations become affordable and accessible to everyone. Our guidance brief explores how SRL can be applied to secure that public investments in medical innovation deliver an optimal public return – without jeopardizing commercial incentives.

To improve access to medical innovations, particularly for lower- and middle-income countries, SRL should be standard practice. To foster this, our guidance brief includes a checklist of guiding questions, an overview of possible contractual clauses, practical solutions to current barriers, and examples of where and how SRL is already being applied. In addition, we make recommendations to all relevant stakeholders: governments and other public funders, universities and other public research institutes, the private sector and civil society organizations.