IAVI is committed to ensuring that when an AIDS vaccine does become available, it will be both accessible and affordable to people in developing countries.

But in working toward that goal we collaborate with a wide variety of institutions, including for-profit pharmaceutical companies and research centers that might expect a financial return from the vaccine. This requires that we pay close attention to intellectual property (IP) rights, and seek at all times to accommodate the needs of our partners without compromising our core principles.

Our approach to IP management stresses:

• Securing legally airtight rights to develop technologies that seem promising for AIDS vaccine development
• Assuring industrial partners that their intellectual property will be protected. IAVI has in some cases even extended IP rights to partners for technologies developed during collaboration
• Ensuring that all those who obtain licenses to use our technology do so in accordance with our commitments to ultimately assure access to effective AIDS vaccines. Indeed, when we give partners exclusive rights to our technologies, we require that they agree to a set of access commitments that stipulate that any vaccine arising from the collaboration be promptly registered, manufactured and distributed at a reasonable price in developing countries