Funding for neglected diseases increases to US$ 2.5 billion, but big killer diseases miss out
Results of first ever global survey of public and private investment into R&D for neglected diseases
Download the full report:
Neglected_disease_RD_how_much_are_we_really_spending
''The G-FINDER survey is a call to action to donors worldwide to support greater R&D for infectious diseases'' - Regina Rabinovich, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Study leader, Dr Mary Moran of The George Institute for International Health said: "The good news is that neglected diseases are on the global agenda that the strong advocacy work of AIDS, TB and malaria activists have shown results. The bad news is that some of the biggest or cruelest killers like pneumonia and Buruli ulcer have few advocates, no global fund and get less than 5% of funding."
An online video of Dr Mary Moran discussing the results can be found here: Video: Mary Moran speaks about the first ever global survey of investment into R&D for neglected diseases - G-FINDER
The report revealed a high concentration of public and private funders, with two organisations providing 60% of funding and many wealthy governments providing little or no funding at all. The largest donors were the US National Institutes of Health (42% of total funding) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (18% of total funding). Twelve organisations alone contributed over 80% of this global total. About a quarter of donor funding was routed to public-private product development partnerships (PDPs), such as the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and the Medicines for Malaria Venture.
Dr Mary Moran said: "In these times of economic crisis , it's worrying to see all our eggs in one basket like this - with two organisations providing 60% of global funding - particularly when that basket represents the lives of hundreds of millions of people."
"Building on recent successes in global health will require new tools to diagnose, treat, and prevent neglected tropical diseases," said Regina Rabinovich, Director, Infectious Diseases Development at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "The G-FINDER survey is a call to action to donors worldwide to support greater R&D for infectious diseases."
For most diseases, funding was not enough to create even one new product. Most diseases and disease categories each received less than 5% of global funding. Sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis and Chagas disease collectively received only 4.9% of total global funding (US$ 125.1million); the diarrhoeal illnesses surveyed collectively received 4.5% of global funding (US$ 113.8million); the helminth (worm) infections received 2% (US$ 51.6million); and bacterial pneumonia and meningitis received only 1.3% (US$ 32.5million). Five diseases - leprosy, Buruli ulcer, trachoma, rheumatic fever, and typhoid and paratyphoid fever - each received less than US$ 10 million or 0.4% of total global investment.
An online video of the G-FINDER launch event: See key international commentators in an interactive forum discussing the year one results of the G-FINDER report, hosted by Andrew Jack of the Financial Times.
The survey which was also published today in the open access journal PLoS Medicine, found a great variance in donor investment levels and choices. Public and philanthropic donors collectively invested US$ 2.3 billion (about 90%) of total funding in 2007. The US government represented nearly three quarters of global public spending. Disappointingly, some of the world's wealthiest governments were missing from the list of top 10, top 20 or even top 50 funders.
Among public investors, Brazil and Russia made it into the top twelve investors, The US government invested over a billion and a quarter dollars or 70.4% of funding, followed in second place by the European Commission with 6.8%, by the UK with 5.7% and then the following governments in decreasing order, who each provide under 2%: Netherlands, Ireland, Brazil, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Russia, Belgium and France with 0.8%.
The pharmaceutical industry contributed just over 9 % of global funding - or nearly a quarter of a billion dollars (US$ 231.8 million), with some companies providing more funding than many OECD governments.
Dr A E Bianco, Director of Technology Transfer at The Wellcome Trust said: "The G-Finder report provides a compass by which to navigate the complex world of neglected disease funding. It should be on the reading list of every funder- and, even more important, every policy advisor to governments that have yet to come forward in support of the cause to reduce the dreadful burden of neglected diseases."
Moran and colleagues' survey was designed to include all 30 neglected diseases and all pharmaceutical tools of significance to developing countries, and to gather funding data as consistently and comprehensively as possible to help funders better understand where the gaps lie and how their investments fit into the global picture. G-FINDER researchers surveyed 150 funders and included 127 neglected disease-product areas.
The G-FINDER survey concludes that: "A broadening of funding efforts so that all who are able to contribute do so, and all diseases receive the attention they deserve, would lead to a dramatic positive impact on the health of developing country patients afflicted with these diseases."
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provided the funding for the survey over a five-year period. The second-year of the five-year survey will continue to track R&D funding and review trends.
For further information, please contact:
UK/EU/US: Samantha Bolton +44 79 724 28633; gfindersurvey@gmail.com
Australia: Emma Orpilla +61410411983; eorpilla@george.org.au
The G-FINDER full report can be downloaded here: www.thegeorgeinstitute.org/prpppubs
The Public Library of Science (PloS) article can be found: http://medicine.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pmed.1000030
A SciVee video about the PLoS article is also available here:
http://www.scivee.tv/node/9649
The George Institute for International Health is headquartered in Sydney, Australia, with operations in the UK, India and China. It has research, policy and training initiatives in over 40 countries, with the collaboration of more than 400 hospitals and universities. Ground-breaking research has been conducted into chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and kidney disease as well as significant investigations in the areas of critical care, trauma, injury and neurological conditions. With a focus on developing countries, the Institute has led global clinical trials, including the largest ever conducted into Type 2 diabetes treatments. In 2006, a Health Policy Unit was established with a focus on the development and delivery of new medicines and vaccines for neglected diseases of the developing world. The George Institute was established in 1999 with the support of the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Medicine.
An Australian media release can be found here: Survey of developing country diseases finds Australia is a major contributor
[i] "Neglected Disease Research and Development: How Much Are We Really Spending?" by Mary Moran, Javier Guzman, Anne-Laure Ropars, Alina McDonald, Nicole Jameson, Brenda Omune, Sam Ryan, Lindsey Wu, published by PLoS Medicine, February 2009, Volume 6, Issue 2