In July 2008, the UNITAID Executive Board decided, in principle, to establish a voluntary patent pool for medicines. The initial focus of the Patent Pool will be on increasing access to newer antiretroviral medicines (ARVs) and encouraging the development of adapted formulations.
The Pool will aim to promote reductions in the price of existing ARVs and stimulate the production of newer first- and second-line ARVs by increasing the number of generic producers of these medicines. The pool will also help to fill the gap for "missing essential ARVs", such as fixed-dose combinations of newer products and special formulations for children.