Poor countries will soon be able to make their own versions of GlaxoSmithKline鈥檚 drugs without paying royalties, the UK-based pharma giant has announced.
Building on concessions announced in 2009, GSK has now said it will . In lower middle income countries, it will offer 10鈥憏ear licences on generous terms to firms seeking to make generic copies of its drugs. Around 85 countries could potentially benefit, covering 2 billion of the world鈥檚 7.4 billion people.
GSK will also explore putting its experimental anti-cancer drugs into a UN-backed 鈥減atent pool鈥� so that they can be made available cheaply to certain countries if and when they are approved. This will become increasingly important as life expectancy, and therefore the prevalence of cancer, rises around the world.
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, an NGO in Washington DC, described the move as welcome and impressive. It urged others to follow GSK鈥檚 lead, especially with regard to cancer drugs.
鈥淐ompanies, such as Roche, Novartis, Bayer, Astellas and BMS, with important oncology drugs should begin to engage on expanding access to their patented medicines,鈥� it said.
Of five major multinationals contacted by 快猫短视频, only Pfizer responded. 鈥淲e are committed to providing broad access to our medicines through a variety of ways including partnerships, flexible access arrangements, and in certain less developed countries, donations,鈥� a spokesperson said.
GSK itself said that it was up to other companies how to proceed. 鈥淲e think what we鈥檝e done is the right thing for us, and if other companies want to follow suit, great,鈥� said a spokeswoman. 鈥淭he aim is just to make a further contribution to widening access, particularly in the poorest countries.鈥�
