Drugmakers Join UN to Combat Tropical Diseases; Pharma Giants Include AstraZeneca PLC, GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis AG, and Pfizer Inc.

Eight drug makers have agreed to create a U.N.-administered pool of patented information and other data to spur new research into 21 tropical diseases and ailments, industry and U.N. officials said Wednesday. The collaborative database will include data drawn from patents, compounds and unpublished results and made available to qualified researchers through royalty-free licenses, said Francis Gurry, director general of the U.N.'s World Intellectual Property Organization. Gurry told a news conference that eight drug makers — Alnylam, AstraZeneca, Eisai, GlaxoSmithKline, MSD, Novartis, Pfizer and Sanofi — and numerous academic and nonprofit research organizations will cooperate.

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