GSK to widen access to medicines in world’s poorest countries

Pharmaceutical company GSK has adopted a new approach to patents and intellectual property to widen access to medicines in the world’s poorest countries.

The company will not file patents for its medicines in least developed countries and low income countries, to give “clarity” and “confidence” to generic companies that want to manufacture and supply generic versions of GSK medicines in those countries.

Chief executive of GSK Sir Andrew Witty has set out a series of steps to help bring innovative medicines to those living in poorer countries, ahead of the UN High Level Panel on Access to Medicines meeting, which takes place today, April 1.

GSK released a statement yesterday, March 31, outlining those steps.

It will also commit its future portfolio of cancer treatments to patent pooling in order to address the burden of diseases in developing countries.

GSK will also aim to make information on its current and future patent portfolios freely available.

Witty said: “In itself, IP is not a barrier to access to medicines. However, we recognise that the global healthcare challenge requires us to be flexible in our approach and responsive to different needs, particularly as the disease burden shifts from infectious to non-communicable diseases. We continuously look at ways that GSK can further contribute to increasing access to medicines.”