Drug giants link up for data pool

Eight drug companies have agreed to create a pool of patented information to spur new research into 21 tropical diseases and conditions, UN officials have said.

The collaborative database will include data drawn from patents, compounds and unpublished test results, and made available to qualified researchers through royalty-free licences.

Francis Gurry, director general of the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organisation, said in a news conference that the firms – Alnylam, AstraZeneca, Eisai, GlaxoSmithKline, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer and Sanofi – and numerous academic and non-profit research bodies will co-operate.

The move is intended mainly to benefit developing nations in their fight against malaria, tuberculosis and 19 tropical diseases and other health conditions that the UN considers “neglected”, such as dengue fever, leprosy, rabies and snakebite.

However, some of the mechanics of patent-sharing, data protection and other details remain to be worked out.

“This is only the start,” said Mr Gurry, flanked by AstraZeneca chief executive David Brennan, who also is head of the pharmaceutical industry’s global trade group in Geneva, and several industry and African officials.

“We haven’t answered all the questions.”

AstraZeneca and Alnylam are making all their patents available. For AstraZeneca, Mr Brennan said that applies to 1,400 “patent families” and more than 25,000 individual patents, even including drugs in the early stages of development.

Mr Brennan added that pharmaceutical companies sometimes spend $2bn-$3bn to bring a new drug to market, yet it makes sense for them to join a collaborative project that can help address “unmet medical needs” in developing countries.