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(Adds Sanofi CEO comment on more ambitious programme from 2020)
By Ben Hirschler
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 18 (Reuters) - Two decades afterthey were spurred into action to tackle AIDS in Africa, globaldrugmakers said on Wednesday they would invest an initial $50million over three years to fight cancer and othernon-communicable diseases in poor countries.
Twenty-two companies, including Pfizer, Merck, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi andGlaxoSmithKline, will contribute funds and expertise tothe project, which is backed by the World Bank.
The so-called Access Accelerated initiative was announced atthe World Economic Forum in Davos and aims to improve bothtreatment and prevention.
In the past, the focus of healthcare in poorer parts of theworld has been on fighting infectious diseases, whether throughvaccinations, drug programmes or the roll-out of anti-malarialbednets.
Today, however, the healthcare burden is shifting as deathsfrom these conditions decline and people in increasinglyurbanised populations succumb to diseases such as cancer,diabetes, and heart and lung disorders fuelled by Westernlifestyles.
Such non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are responsible fornearly 70 percent of all deaths worldwide and almost threequarters of them occur in low- and middle-income countries,according to the World Health Organization.
Severin Schwan, the chief executive of Roche, the world'slargest maker of cancer drugs, said his company and others werealready implementing preferential pricing for the developingworld but cost was only one obstacle.
Countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America also needimproved healthcare systems if patients are to benefit from thelatest developments in medicine.
"It has a lot to do with hospital infrastructure. You can'tadminister modern cancer medicines if you don't havesophisticated lab facilities," he told Reuters. "We're going toinstitutionalise cooperation in this area."
Cancer is the initial focus and drug companies will workwith the Union for International Cancer Control to test out newdiagnostics and treatments in several cities around the world ona pilot basis.
Sanofi CEO Olivier Brandicourt said the $50 millioncommitment - a relatively small sum for an industry with globalsales of around $1 trillion a year - was just a start.
"The $50 million is more like seeding funding, if you want,and based on the results we'll gather afterwards we will have amore ambitious programme with more stakeholders between 2020 and2030," he said. (Editing by Mark Potter)
