GlaxoSmithKline said it plans to invest up to 60 million pounds ($97 million) over 10 years to improve research, development and access to AIDS drugs in Africa.

The world's second biggest drug maker have also agreed to provide a new free voluntary licensing agreement for AIDS drug abacavir, or Ziagen, with South African generic drug maker Aspen Pharmacare under which it will manufacture a cheaper generic version of the drug.

Glaxo Chief Executive Andrew Witty announced these steps on a visit to Kenya which are the result of pressure by campaigners and some governments on drug companies to make life saving drugs available to the poor, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

In an initiative that U. S. biotech Alnylam Pharmaceuticals joined last week, Glaxo has put patents for tropical diseases in a free 'pool'. Glaxo was the only major company and hopes others will follow suit. It stopped short of offering patents on medicines for HIV/AIDS, which it does not consider to be a neglected disease.

"Up until now I've not really seen the articulation of how a patent pool in this particular area (HIV/AIDS) would change things dramatically," Witty said.

"The patent pool on neglected diseases was because there was really no research going on in that area -- HIV is not a neglected disease."

A month ago Glaxo offered to donate 50 million doses of a new swine flu vaccine to poorer nations, a move that Novartis has resisted. Apart from this its new investments will see up to 50 million pounds channeled into a fund to support non-governmental organizations working with pregnant women to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV. An additional 10 million pounds in seed funding will go to support public-private partnership work in developing AIDS medicines specifically for children.