About Us

Medicine Open Access Initiative (MOA-I) is a not for profit non governmental organization that searches for better patent system to increase access to essential medicine. MOA-I focuses on social justice, particularly for the most vulnerable populations, including low-income persons and underserved commuinities.

Nearly 2 billion people have no access to basic medicines. Lack of access to medicines causes a cascade of misery and suffering, from no relief for the excruciating pain of a child’s earache, to women who bleed to death during childbirth, to deaths from diseases that are easily and inexpensively prevented or cured. People should not be denied access to life-saving or health-promoting interventions for unfair reasons, including those with economic or social causes. 

The patent system, with its market-driven R&D incentives, has historically failed to invest in new products for poor populations with virtually no purchasing power. Apart from having few new products that address their priority diseases, the poor are punished in a common practice of recouping the costs of R&D through high prices protected by patents means.

MOA-I undertakes legal research and engages in global public interest advocacy through the enhancement of patent transparency to monitor the wrongdoers,  to inform policy makers, and to provide knowledge to public.