January 20,2010 - LONDON (Reuters) - A "silent pandemic" of chronic disease is creeping up on poor countries and will force pharmaceutical firms to take a more tiered approach to pricing some of their most lucrative medicines.

Drugs for diseases which were previously dominant only in the rich, well-fed world, such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, are increasingly in demand in poorer nations in Asia and Africa, whose populations are now living longer.

But the price of many of these medicines and their unsuitability for emerging markets are high barriers to access.

As the Influenza A/H1N1 virus continue to spread worldwide at a fast pace, WHO experts express concerns about possible genetical interactions with other Influenza virus, particularly with the deadly H5N1 (Avian Flu).

Health Ministers from 193 countries of the World Health Organization are meeting in Geneva (Switzerland) to draw up plans to fight the epidemic.

"We have reasons to fear an interaction of the virus A (H1N1) with others, including the H5N1, the avian flu, with has a high mortality rate among birds, but little effect in humans. This interaction would result in a much more dangerous influenza A" declared today Margaret Chan, the director of the WHO.

On Monday, the World Health Organisation (WHO) raised the level of influenza pandemic alert from phase 3 to phase 4 (on a scale of 6), indicating that efforts to contain the spread of the virus had failed.

Keiji Fukuda, Head of the WHO Global Influenza Programme, said that outbreaks in Mexico, the U.S. and Spain demonstrate that the H1N1 virus expansion can't be hindered but does not require to close the fronters or to restrict travels, but "it is considered prudent for people who are ill to delay international travel and for people developing symptoms following international travel to seek medical attention".

Epidemiological data demonstrate human-to-human transmission and the ability of the virus to cause community-level outbreaks.

Although not yet a pandemic, the situation has to be considered very seriously worlwide.