The second-largest pharmaceutical company in the world has signalled a groundbreaking change by promising to cap the prices of the patented medicines that it sells in the poorest countries.

Urging other industry giants to follow, Andrew Witty, chief executive of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), said that his company would also share knowledge about potential drugs that are protected by patents.

The British-based company said that it would significantly reduce the price of the drugs that it sells in 50 Sub-Saharan African countries, such as Zambia and Mozambique. Under the patent pool, it envisages sharing with rivals its research on 14 neglected tropical diseases, such as cholera and leprosy, in the hope of finding more effective treatments.

Mr Witty, speaking at the Harvard Medical School last night, said: “Society expects us to do more in addressing these issues. To be frank, I agree. We have the capacity to do more and we can do more. The question is can we, big pharma, rise to the challenge and be a genuine catalyst for change?

“The task is huge. Take Africa. It has 34 of the 50 poorest countries in the world and suffers 24 per cent of the global disease burden. It has just 3 per cent of the world’s health workers.”

GSK said that it aimed to cover its costs on its drive to improve healthcare in Africa, adding that if it made a profit from selling medicines in the 50 poorest countries, it would reinvest 20 per cent of it into those countries.

The group said that it would charge patients in Sub-Saharan areas no more than 25 per cent of the average amount that it charges for the same drug in the developed world, as long as it can cover costs.

Mr Witty told The Times: “This is not important from a commercial perspective, but from a global health perspective it is critically important. It is an area where companies like GSK need to do more. If you are one of the companies that has the technologies that help come up with treatments for neglected diseases, you ought to do something about it because, if you don’t, who else is going to do it. It is important that we fulfil that obligation.”

Mr Witty added that his company makes only about £30 million annually from selling drugs to the 50 countries and has operations in 14 of them.

Navid Malik, an analyst at Matrix Corporate Capital, said that although pharmaceutical companies, including GSK, have offered low-cost medicines to poorer countries before, this initiative to boost healthcare in Africa appeared to be much broader than previous campaigns.

“It will give GSK great kudos,” he said. “Pharmaceutical companies are always being criticised for making a lot of money in the US and Europe with high prices, and President Obama in particular is facing huge political pressure to reduce the costs of drugs in America.

“GSK can stand up and say that it is fighting disease in Africa, giving it a greener image and increasing its ability to deflect attention away from prices in the developing world, which are constantly under review.”

Tido von Schoen-Angerer, director of the Access to Essential Medicines Campaign, urged GSK to commit its patents to a pool for Aids drugs being set up by the international aid group Unitaid.

A patent pool for other diseases would be “a good first step” but needed to be followed by funding to support research, he said.

He welcomed the discounted pricing, but said: “Experience shows in order to make the medicines sufficiently affordable in \ countries, you really need generic competition.”

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