Posted for Declan Butler
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the world’s second-largest pharmaceutical company by sales, has put a bit more flesh on proposals outlined last month by Andrew Witty, its chief executive to share some of its patents to boost research into neglected diseases, and to making its drugs available more cheaply in the very poorest countries.
The company’s 2008 Corporate Responsibility Report, released on Tuesday, says it will put some 500 granted patents and 300 pending applications into the pool (press release, report).
The report also confirms the company will also introduce differential pricing: “Secondly, on 1 April 2009 we will reduce our prices for patented medicines in the 50 poorest countries in the world, the LDCs [least developed countries], so they are no higher than 25 per cent of the developed world price. Where possible we will reduce our prices further while ensuring we cover our manufacturing costs so this offer is sustainable.”
I wrote a 1,000-word analysis of the GSK proposals last month – Drug patent plan gets mixed reviews. It revealed that whereas researchers and people working on access to medicines generally welcomed the GSK move, they didn’t think it went far enough, and were also concerned about the small print, some of which could be interpreted as a thinly-veiled strategy to undermine generic manufacturers. It is the latter, and not price cuts by big pharma, for example who have allowed the prices of AIDS drugs to become affordable in the poorest countries.
The same day as the report’s release, Ivan Lewis, the UK minister for international development, reiterated Witty’s call for other pharmaceutical companies to embrace the concept of a patent pool for neglected diseases, and also to contribute patents to another pool for AIDS drugs being established by UNITAID, an international organization that negotiates lower drug prices. Whether Lewis and Witty’s call will materialize remains to be seen – for my article, my colleague Natasha Gilbert also chipped in with interviews of officials at several other big drug firms, and found a lukewarm response at best.
See also
GSK’s pledge to the developing world – February 16
Drug patent plan gets mixed reviews – 23 February
Opening Access: A selection of other drug firms’ efforts on neglected tropical diseases – 23 February