Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline's new CEO, Andrew Witty, just announced a plan to cut drug prices in developing countries by 75 percent, reinvest profits in hospitals and clinics there, and, most importantly, share "any chemicals or processes over which it has intellectual property rights that are relevant to finding drugs for neglected diseases..."It looks like a substantive, pioneering program and it will certainly save lives. It's less clear if this will help GSK's bottom line in any direct way. I, for one, am pretty glad to have a principled reason to buy Aquafresh (a GSK brand) instead of just standing in the toothpaste aisle, paralyzed by the plethora of options.
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