Drug Giant Pledges Cheap Medicine For World's Poor

bmsleight writes in with a Guardian piece on the decision of the world's second biggest pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline, to radically shift its attitude towards providing cheap drugs to millions of people in the developing world. "[The new CEO] 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; and reinvest 20% of any profits it makes in the least developed countries in hospitals, clinics, and staff."

Comments

Re:It's called market segmentation

[The Spoonman]

Oh, good, you've contributed in a positive way to the conversation. This whole issue had been a mire of point-counterpoint until you stepped in and made it clear for all of us. Where would we be without you and your spectacular mind?