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By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK — Drug companies helped drive an almost 18 percent increase in corporate philanthropy last year as they gave away medicine to poor ¾«¶«Ó°Òµns still struggling in a rough economy, a survey found on Thursday.

The Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy poll of 110 companies found they gave $13 billion in cash and products last year as the United States began to emerge from recession.

While 40 percent of the 110 companies — polled annually for the past four years — boosted their giving last year by more than 10 percent, another 17 percent decreased their giving by more than 10 percent compared to 2009.

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