[Ip-health] Reuters - GSK proposes patent pool for neglected diseases

[James ARKINSTALL]

By Lisa Richwine

WASHINGTON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - GlaxoSmithKline Plc's chief executive urged
creation of a voluntary patent pool to spark development of new treatments
for neglected diseases in the world's poorest countries.

Glaxo CEO Andrew Witty said on Friday his company would contribute its own
patents for technologies that might aid research into malaria, cholera and
more than a dozen other diseases.

He called on other companies to add patents and make them available for
third-party researchers who could develop new products or formulations.

"It is... right that we explore new ways of stimulating research that might
otherwise not happen," Witty said in remarks prepared for a speech at
Harvard Medical School.

Glaxo, the world's second-largest drugmaker, also will cap the prices of
patented medicines it sells in the poorest countries to no more than 25
percent of the cost in wealthy nations, Witty said. Prices already are set
below that level in some areas, he said in an interview.

The measures are targeted at 50 nations considered the world's least
developed, many of them in Africa.

Pharmaceutical companies drew fire for fiercely backing patents that
blocked cheaper competitors, even in the poorest countries, where
brand-name medicines were unaffordable. Glaxo and others responded by
selling AIDS medicines in certain areas without a profit and offering
licenses to generic makers.

Witty said he was challenging the industry to go further to address global
health problems by being more flexible on patent protection and pricing in
the neediest countries.

"Society expects us to do more in addressing these issues. To be frank, I
agree. We have the capacity to do more and we can do more," he said.

AIDS, afflicting millions of people across Africa, was not included in the
list of ailments for the patent pool. Witty said the pool was meant to
focus on diseases with a severe lack of treatments, and the need for
greater access to AIDS medicines was being addressed in other ways.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine, editing by Editing by Tim Dobbyn)