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Survey
India Emerges Among Top 5 Government Funders of Neglected Diseases
$ 3 billion spent globally on neglected disease R&D
in 2008
India along with Brazil are now in the top five Government funders of neglected
disease R&D and are taking the lead on diseases like leprosy and dengue
fever. An annual survey of investment into neglected disease R&D shows that
nearly $ 3 billion was spent on making new products for neglected diseases in
2008. A key finding of the G-FINDER survey was that, for some diseases, traditional
donor funding is being replaced by investment from pharmaceutical companies
and Innovative Developing Countries (IDCs) such as Brazil, India and South Africa.
Where there is no profitable market, as with many of the diseases that affect
sub Saharan Africa, R&D remains heavily reliant on traditional donor and
philanthropic funding "These are tough economic times, but for the first
time, we are seeing that for some neglected diseases, the traditional reliance
on charitable funding and donor aid is being replaced by a market and domestically
driven R&D", said report author, Dr Mary Moran of The George Institute
for International Health. "This is good news for new medicines and diagnostics
in India, Brazil and South Africa, but not for most of sub Saharan Africa where
there is still no market and they will have to rely on donors and philanthropists
for some time yet", she added.
This trend reflects the growing research strength and pharmaceutical markets
of India and Brazil, in particular, as well as high local incidence of diseases
such as leprosy and dengue. The downside of this trend is that diseases of Africa
continue to rely on donors, who still provide more than 85 per cent of funds
for Buruli ulcer, trachoma, kinetoplastid diseases like sleeping sickness and
many helminth infections.
"The survey report has put India as the fifth largest public funder of
neglected diseases, and ICMR provides 60 per cent of the funds. Visceral leishmaniasis
and leprosy are amongst most neglected diseases, and we must further improve
our funding for research to find new tools to combat them," said Dr VM
Katoch, Secretary, Department of Health Research, and Director-General, ICMR.
Other key findings were that global funding for neglected disease R&D ground
to a standstill in 2008, with funding cuts or freezes across the board, including
a $26.3 million decrease in funding from High-Income Countries (HICs), a $0.1m
decrease in multilateral funding, and a halving of investment by small companies
(down by $ 23.8m). Multinational company funding held steady, while the Bill
& Melinda Gates Foundation increased its funding in 2008. This injection
of additional funds led to a net increase of $ 100.1m (3.9 per cent) in global
neglected disease R&D investment in 2008.
The G-FINDER survey found that two organisations provided nearly 60 per cent
of global funding in this area in 2008: the US National Institutes of Health
($ 1.1 bn, 36.5 per cent) and the Gates Foundation ($ 617m, 20.9 per cent).
The G-FINDER report shows that in 2008 Innovative
Developing Countries like India, Brazil and South Africa and pharmaceutical
companies funded:
- Nearly 60 per cent of R&D for pneumonia and meningitis.
- More than half (51 per cent) of leprosy R&D.
- Nearly half (46 per cent) of R&D for new dengue products (the
Americans, particularly Brazil, along with Asia, have the highest global
prevalence of dengue).
- Around 20 per cent of funding for new treatments and vaccines for
diarrhoeal illnesses, TB and malaria (which occur worldwide).
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EH News Bureau
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