In a pioneering move which could widen access to life-saving drugs in developing countries, the University of Edinburgh has agreed to impose terms upon its medical patents which require all pharmaceuticals licensees to offer cheap medicines to poorer countries.

The move comes in line with policy agreed upon last November at the Edinburgh University Students’ Association AGM, at which students voted unanimously to demand that the university implement a socially responsible medical patenting policy. Following campaigning from the students’ association and student group Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM), this policy has now been adopted by the university, making it the first university in Britain to do so.

Accordingly, medicines which result from research at the university will only be licensed to commercial partners who agree to increase the availability of medicines at affordable prices to less developed countries. The university have also vowed “to prosecute patent applications in less developed countries only as necessary,” for instance in providing development and marketing leverage for new products and technology, or to exert leverage over commercial licensee of the university’s technology across the world.

EUSA president Adam Ramsay said: "Edinburgh is a world leading medical research university. But big pharmaceutical companies take the university discoveries and price millions out of the market. The university has said it will no longer stand by while people suffer and die from treatable illnesses because of a lack of access to its medicines. I am delighted that we have managed to get the university to take this stand, and UAEM deserve enormous credit for their hard work on this campaign."

UAEM also issued a statement in response to the university’s move. A spokesperson said: “This marks a major step forward and we are delighted that the University of Edinburgh has decided to take a leading role in this effort to improve access to medicines for the world's poor. The key focus now will be to ensure that the pledge is realised and we look forwards to working with the University to actively follow it through.

"We hope Edinburgh's decision can convince other universities to adopt the same policy, truly developing a group of universities allied for essential medicines, where research success is measured not by potential profit, but by potential health impact.”

Universities Allied for Essential Medicines is a student pressure group based in Berkley, California, but with members worldwide. Noting the role universities and their research plays in shaping society, the group calls upon institutions to ensure that their medical research “meets the needs of the majority of the world’s population,” in particular ensuring that the world’s poor are not priced out of access to medicine.

The campaign, which has already proved successful in some American universities, builds upon initiatives begun by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, the [Bill] Clinton HIV/Aids Initiative and, in the UK the Department for International Development.

Today, ten million people die from treatable diseases for which drugs are available but which they cannot afford, and in the poorest parts of Africa and Asia, over 50 per cent of individuals do not have regular access to essential medecines. In addition, millions suffer from so-called “neglected diseases” – illnesses such as sleeping sickness, lymphatic filariasis and blinding trachoma which, because of their prevalence in only developing countries, do not constitute a market opportunity to warrant commercial research and development. According to campaigners, public institutions such as universities have a vital role to play in countering this inequality.

The announcement this month is important given the University of Edinburgh’s top quality research into healthcare technology. In the 1980s, for instance, Professor Ken Murray engineered the first vaccine against Hepatitis B, a disease which continues to claim around 600,000 lives per year.

Patented by the scientist and licensed to Biogen, Inc., a US biotechnology company which Prof. Murray co-founded with fellow biologists from Europe and the United States, the vaccine made a substantial amount of money. Indeed, the hepatitis B vaccine is now valued at over $1bn worldwide. Prof. Murray donated his share of the royalties to a charity he set up.

The announcement will cover patents on all future research.

Current projects include a three year project now under way at the Centre for Regenerative Medicine into the production of synthetic blood.