Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will share the patented knowledge it uses to develop medicines for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) — including malaria and tuberculosis — with other drugs companies, governments and non-governmental organizations.

Andrew Witty, GSK's chief executive, proposed the voluntary 'patent pool' in a 12 February speech, and called on other drugs firms to open up access to intellectual property relevant to NTDs.

Starting this year, Witty announced, GSK will also cap its prices for patented medicines in poor countries at 25% of what it charges in developed countries. It will also reinvest 20% of the profit it makes from selling medicines in poor nations into health-care infrastructure projects in those countries.