Center for Global Health R&D Policy Assessment

The Pool for Open Innovation, which is administered by Bio Ventures for Global Health, began with GSK's efforts to create a “Patent Pool” of intellectual property for new medicines to treat neglected tropical diseases. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, universities and non-governmental organizations are encouraged to donate small molecule compounds or process patents for neglected tropical diseases. Open access to this information may accelerate the development and production of new products and formulations for use in the developing world. GSK has donated over 800 granted or pending patent applications to this collaborative pool. Other contributors include Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, the Emory Institute for Drug Discovery, iThemba Pharmaceuticals, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Technology Innovation Agency of South Africa. The Patent Pool targets the sixteen diseases that the U.S Food and Drug Administration has named in its neglected tropical diseases initiative.