DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Roche Holding AG’s rivals Sanofi SA and Novartis AG see no need to match the Swiss drugmaker in buying a gene-decoding business like Illumina Inc and reckon they can do partnerships instead.

The relaxed attitude in the face of Roche’s $5.7 billion hostile bid for Illumina suggests the chance of a counterbid from big drugmakers is slim, although diagnostics and IT companies may yet show interest.

“Everybody is thinking about diagnostics but you can get access to this technology without necessarily having to acquire the company,” Novartis Chief Executive Joe Jimenez told Reuters at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

U.S.-based Illumina is a major player in the emerging field of gene sequencing, which allows scientists to better predict those patients that are likely to respond to a particular drug.

The San Diego company makes machines that decode a person’s entire genome, going far beyond simple genetic tests that are already used in diseases such as cancer to test for a handful of gene variations.

Genetic profiling is getting increased attention from the global pharmaceuticals industry as companies move towards a new era of “personalized” medicine, designed to tailor treatment to particular patients.

That plays to the strengths of Roche, which is a major supplier of diagnostics tests as well as the world’s largest maker of cancer drugs.

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 26 (Reuters) – Microsoft chairman and philanthropist Bill Gates pledged a further $750 million to the troubled global AIDS fund on Thursday and urged governments to continue their support to save lives.

“These are tough economic times, but that is no excuse for cutting aid to the world’s poorest,” he said in Davos at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria announced two days ago that its executive director, Michel Kazatchkine, was stepping down early following criticism over misuse of funds and cuts in funding.

The public-private organisation, which has the backing of celebrities like rock star Bono, accounts for around a quarter of international financing to fight HIV and AIDS, as well as the majority of funds to fight TB and malaria.

But it has been forced to cut back and said last year it would make no new grants or funding until 2014.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is giving $750 million through a promissory note — a fresh injection in addition to the $650 million that the Gates charity has contributed since the fund was launched 10 years ago.

While that will give an immediate boost, more is needed from governments, which have provided the bulk of the $22.6 billion that has been raised by the Geneva-based organisation to date for its work in 150 countries.