Pharmaceutical companies, the Gates foundation, the World Bank and WHO are just some of the signatories to a new commitment to target neglected tropical diseases.

The coalition has set a target for 2020 to control five diseases, eliminate four more, and eradicate Guinea worm. The diseases include schistosomiasis, lymphatic filariasis, soil-transmitted helminths and trachoma.

Pharmaceutical companies including giants GSK and Merck will increase the amount of drugs they donate and invest in research and development.

Putting aside corporate differences, the drug companies have agreed to share their intellectual property to speed the process of developing drugs for NTDs. This is an unprecedented step. “It’s a big thing to work amongst us as competitors… Sharing libraries of compounds is extraordinarily difficult,” said CEO of Sanofi, Christopher A Viehbacher.

Bill Gates played a crucial role in bringing together the competitors to fight the diseases. His foundation is donating $345 million over the next five years for both research and delivering drugs on the ground.

Drug companies have a scorecard to ensure they each pull their weight. Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of WHO, said: “Let us not be naive. The targets are achievable… but we must hold each other to account, so the scorecard… is extremely important”.

Gates said the programme would not be easy. “We have very ambitious goals that we’ve set” he said. “We have a nice little competition going on between polio and guinea worm [for eradication].”

The CEO of Eisai, Haruo Naito, said the drug companies could persuade their shareholders the investment in free or low cost drugs was worth it. Eliminating NTDs will help lift millions out of poverty, creating potential customers.

The health ministries of endemic countries are integral to the eradication plans. “This event is very important to me personally and to my country,” said Dr Donan Mmbando, Tanzania’s Director of Preventative Services.