GlaxoSmithKline, the world's second-largest pharmaceutical company in terms of sales, has fleshed out proposals outlined last month to create a pool for companies to share patents to boost research into neglected diseases (see Nature 457, 1064–1065; 2009).
The company says that it will put some 500 patents and 300 pending applications into the pool, and has confirmed that on 1 April it will cut the price of its drugs in the world's 50 poorest countries to no more than 25% of prices in the developed world.
On 24 March, Ivan Lewis, the UK minister for international development, called for other pharmaceutical companies to contribute to both GlaxoSmithKline's patent pool and another pool for AIDS drugs that is being established by UNITAID, an international organization that negotiates lower drug prices.
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Drug patent pools start to take shape. Nature 458, 562 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/458562c
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/458562c
