Patent rights, regulatory frameworks and the rules governing collaborative innovation can determine whether promising therapies ever reach the people who need them most.
A new international research project is bringing together a transdisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, health economists, and legal and policy experts to develop affordable and accessible HIV monitoring, treatment, and cure solutions for low- and middle-income countries.
Professor Bassem Awad is a Co-Principal Investigator on the project, which has received a New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) Transformation grant. The $24 million, six-year project, titled “IMMUNEQUITY: Transforming Global Access to Immune Therapies through Frugal Biomedical Innovation,” is led by Western University Professor Eric Arts. The research team includes co-investigators and collaborators from the University of British Columbia, the University of Manitoba, the University of Montréal, Western University’s Faculties of Engineering, Health Sciences, the Ivey Business School, and Ugandan partners at the Joint Clinical Research Centre and Makerere University.
Professor Awad, who joined the Common Law Section in July 2026, will lead the project’s legal and policy component, with a particular focus on developing intellectual property, regulatory and data governance frameworks that support the development and equitable access to HIV-related immune therapies and cure technologies. His research will examine legal issues at the intersection of patent law, data governance, collaborative innovation and access to medicines. It will help identify legal and policy barriers that affect how scientific discoveries move from the laboratory to patients, while creating pathways that are financially sustainable, collaborative and globally accessible.
The IMMUNEQUITY project seeks to explore new approaches to developing and delivering immune therapies in resource-constrained settings. Through “frugal biomedical innovation,” the team aims to develop solutions that expand access to essential health technologies where conventional approaches may be inaccessible or unsustainable.
As a new member of the uOttawa community, Professor Awad is the Director of the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), where he leads work at the intersection of law, technology and public interest. He is also a faculty member at the uOttawa Centre for Law, Technology and Society, strengthening connections between his research and the Centre’s work on emerging technologies, intellectual property and public policy.
Congratulations to Professor Awad and his collaborators on this exciting new project!
View the official news release from the Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat.