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Added by
apesphere on 16 Feb 2009
From: www.guardian.co.uk
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| Image courtesy khym54 via Flickr |
GSK Chief Executive Andrew Witty has indicated a radical new approach to intellectual property and drug pricing in developing countries.
"He said that GSK will:
• Cut its prices for all drugs in the 50 least developed countries to no more than 25% of the levels in the UK and US – and less if possible – and make drugs more affordable in middle-income countries such as Brazil and India.
• Put any chemicals or processes over which it has intellectual property rights that are relevant to finding drugs for neglected diseases into a "patent pool", so they can be explored by other researchers.
• Reinvest 20% of any profits it makes in the least developed countries in hospitals, clinics and staff.
• Invite scientists from other companies, NGOs or governments to join the hunt for tropical disease treatments at its dedicated institute at Tres Cantos, Spain.
The extent of the changes Witty is setting in train is likely to stun drug company critics and other pharmaceutical companies, who risk being left exposed. Campaigners privately say the move is remarkable, although they worry that it may undermine the generics industry which currently supplies the cheapest drugs in poor countries."
In a further speech at the Harvard Medical School Mr Witty shed some light on the question of where do government responsibilities end and those of foreign corporate investors begin in developing countries where infrastructure is poor:
"“We need to stop saying ‘it’s not our fault there is no infrastructure to deliver healthcare’ and start saying ‘who can we work with to ensure that the infrastructure does exist’?” To do this, GSK will use 20% of the profit made in selling medicines in LDCs to reinvest in infrastructure projects in those countries. “We never want to be seen just as a ‘western’ company. We need to be a local company,” Mr Witty said.
He gave the example of Brazil, “where we are helping them build technical expertise so that in the long run they can produce vaccines themselves”. Such partnerships “ will tie us much more closely to the country we operate in, giving us a stake in its economic and social development. That is how it should be”." (from PharmaTimes)
"He said that GSK will:
• Cut its prices for all drugs in the 50 least developed countries to no more than 25% of the levels in the UK and US – and less if possible – and make drugs more affordable in middle-income countries such as Brazil and India.
• Put any chemicals or processes over which it has intellectual property rights that are relevant to finding drugs for neglected diseases into a "patent pool", so they can be explored by other researchers.
• Reinvest 20% of any profits it makes in the least developed countries in hospitals, clinics and staff.
• Invite scientists from other companies, NGOs or governments to join the hunt for tropical disease treatments at its dedicated institute at Tres Cantos, Spain.
The extent of the changes Witty is setting in train is likely to stun drug company critics and other pharmaceutical companies, who risk being left exposed. Campaigners privately say the move is remarkable, although they worry that it may undermine the generics industry which currently supplies the cheapest drugs in poor countries."
In a further speech at the Harvard Medical School Mr Witty shed some light on the question of where do government responsibilities end and those of foreign corporate investors begin in developing countries where infrastructure is poor:
"“We need to stop saying ‘it’s not our fault there is no infrastructure to deliver healthcare’ and start saying ‘who can we work with to ensure that the infrastructure does exist’?” To do this, GSK will use 20% of the profit made in selling medicines in LDCs to reinvest in infrastructure projects in those countries. “We never want to be seen just as a ‘western’ company. We need to be a local company,” Mr Witty said.
He gave the example of Brazil, “where we are helping them build technical expertise so that in the long run they can produce vaccines themselves”. Such partnerships “ will tie us much more closely to the country we operate in, giving us a stake in its economic and social development. That is how it should be”." (from PharmaTimes)
Andrew Newton is the author of The Handbook of Compliance: Making Ethics Work in Financial Services
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on 17 Feb 2009