McGill University, in conjunction with Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), has committed to increasing access to life-saving medicines by adopting Global Access Licensing Principles. McGill is the third Canadian university to adopt the principles, demonstrating a dedication to ensure that any research and university-developed technologies created on McGill’s campus with potential for further development into a drug, vaccine, or medical diagnostic are made affordable to all.
Global Access Licensing Framework (GALF), the framework used to inform aspects of McGill’s new principles, provides goals and strategies for research universities to follow in the licensing of medicines developed at the universities. The framework aims to prevent patenting practices and intellectual property policies from creating barriers to the life-saving results of publicly-funded research conducted in universities’ laboratories. GALF was created with the help of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), a non-profit, student advocacy organization with chapters at universities around the world
The McGill University chapter of UAEM has worked alongside Innovation and Partnerships to create a GALF commitment best suited for McGill. Students from the McGill UAEM chapter have simultaneously worked to raise awareness of the importance of transparency and equitable licensing of medicines by passing a motion in McGill’s Student Society, meeting with members of the administration, and organizing various creative advocacy events around campus.
