International law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (the Global Fund) in relation to its Affordable Medicines Facility – malaria (AMFm).

AMFm is an innovative financing mechanism designed to expand access to the most effective treatment for malaria, artemisinin-based combination therapies, thereby saving lives and reducing the use of inappropriate treatments.

As part of AMFm, Freshfields advised the Global Fund on the drafting, negotiation and execution of master supply agreements with leading pharmaceutical manufacturers Novartis, sanofi-aventis, Ajanta Pharma, Cipla, Guilin Pharmaceutical Co. and Ipca Laboratories Limited.

The Freshfields team advising on the deal was led by London corporate partner Chris Bown and associate Ryan Thorne. The team also utilised Freshfields' international network to provide trademark and branding advice, headed by Dusseldorf IP partner Andrea Lensing-Kramer and Hamburg IP associate Boerge Seeger.

Associates Patrick Childress (DR) and Raquel McKenney (corporate) provided US legal advice and London senior associates Greg Fullelove (DR) and associate Stefan Lenze (DR) also advised on the deal.

“We are grateful to Freshfields for their professional and timely support to the Global Fund in its negotiations with manufacturers of quality-assured malaria medicines. These agreements with manufacturers will make it possible for patients to access the medicines at lower and more affordable prices. We appreciate Freshfields' commitment to the fight against malaria and look forward to further collaboration,” said Olusoji Adeyi, director of AMFm at the Global Fund.

Freshfields corporate partner Chris Bown said, 'This was a highly complex arrangement requiring several multi-jurisdictional supply agreements intertwined with an innovative financing facility. The result is that more people in impoverished regions will now have increased access to effective malaria treatments from leading pharmaceutical manufacturers.’

Since its creation in 2002, the Global Fund has become the main source of finance for programs to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, with approved funding of US$19.3 billion for more than 572 programmes in 144 countries. It provides a quarter of all international financing for AIDS globally, two-thirds for tuberculosis and three quarters for malaria.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP is an integrated international law firm and operates from 27 offices in 15 countries, including all the main financial centres of the world. Freshfields' 2,500 plus lawyers provide unrivalled technical and commercial advice to the world's leading national and multinational corporations, financial institutions and governments, helping them deal with their most challenging and complex business issues and transactions.