New Delhi: The implementation of a patent pool for HIV/AIDS medication was approved by UNITAID on Monday at a board meeting in Geneva. In a relief for civil society and stakeholders from India, Unitaid, the international facility for the purchase of drugs against HIV/AIDS, has included middle-income countries such as India in the pool. The pool will facilitate the production of generic medicines for AIDS at lower costs. The idea of the patent pool was floated by UNITAID in 2008 and the pool’s operations are scheduled to begin in mid-2010. Radhieka Pandey