GSK adopts approach to IP reflecting a country's economic maturity

Ahead of Thursday’s meeting of the UN High Level Panel on Access to Medicines, Sir Andrew Witty, chief executive of UK pharma major GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK), set out a series of steps designed to help bring innovative GSK medicines to more people living in the world’s poorest countries.

Over the past eight years, the company has taken steps in a number of areas including tiered pricing, healthcare infrastructure building, data-sharing and innovative partnerships. GSK says it recognizes that improving access around the world requires a flexible and multi-faceted approach to intellectual property (IP) protection. While IP stimulates and underpins continued investment in research and development, GSK believes being flexible with its IP can help address pressing health challenges in developing countries.

Sir Andrew said IP protection remained a vital incentive for investment in research and development but a more flexible approach was needed to meet rising global demand for healthcare. He said debate had become polarized between defenders of the IP system and critics who want it torn up; Thursday’s announcement aimed to show that innovation and access to medicines were not incompatible. “There has been too much focus on it being one thing or the other: you either have IP or you don’t. I think we need to move to a more mult-ipolar approach,” he stressed.