India among top 5 government funders of neglected diseases

India along with Brazil are now in the top 5 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 released, shows that nearly $2.96 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 percent of funds for Buruli ulcer, trachoma, kinetoplastid diseases like sleeping sickness and many helminth infections.

Report Findings

The G-FINDER report shows that in 2008 Innovative Developing Countries (IDC`s) like India, Brazil and South Africa and pharmaceutical companies funded:

1. Nearly 60 percent of R&D for pneumonia and meningitis
2. More than half (51 percent) of leprosy R&D (Brazil and India have the largest number of new leprosy cases per year in the world)
3. Nearly half (46 percent) of R&D for new dengue products (the Americas, particularly Brazil, along with Asia, have the highest global prevalence of dengue)
4. Around 20 percent of funding for new treatments and vaccines for diarrhoeal illnesses, TB and malaria (which occur worldwide)

“The G-Finder survey report has put India as the 5th largest public funder of neglected diseases, and ICMR provides 60 percent 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 V M Katoch, Secretary, Department of Health Research, and Director-General, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi.
Other Key Findings.

• 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)
• This injection of additional funds led to a net increase of $100.1m (3.9 percent) in global neglected disease R&D investment in 2008.
• Two organizations provided nearly 60 percent of global funding in this area in 2008: the US National Institutes of Health ($1.1 billion, 36.5 percent) and the Gates Foundation ($617 million, 20.9 percent).
• The pharmaceutical industry was collectively the third largest global investor, with companies providing one-eighth ($365 million, 12.4 percent) of global funding for neglected disease R&D.

"This G-Finder report confirms the welcome news that an increasing number of Pharma companies are allocating R+D resources to the neglected diseases surveyed. Although no major financial returns can be expected with medicines for many of these diseases in the foreseeable future, there is a growing sense of responsibility for underprivileged patients and reputational aspects,which are helping to improve the lives of patients”, said Prof Paul L Herrling, Head of Corporate Research for Novartis International.