G-FINDER report 2016

A report on 2015 global investment into research and development (R&D) of new products for neglected diseases shows that year on year investment has decreased by $68 million (a reduction of 2.3 percent). This is the third consecutive year of declining funding.

The ninth G-FINDER report, produced by Policy Cures, analyses trends and patterns in 2015 for 35 neglected diseases - including tuberculosis (TB) - across 142 product areas including drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, microbicides and vector control products.

In 2015, a reported $3,041m was invested in neglected disease R&D. As in previous years, HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria collectively received the vast majority of global neglected disease R&D funding ($2,144m, 71 percent). This amount was $71 million less than the previous year.

The report shows that global funding for TB R&D in 2015 was $567m – a figure similar to previous years. Over half of all TB funding came from public funders (57 percent), with the remaining funding split between the philanthropic sector (25 percent) and industry (18 percent).

Grania Brigden, Project Lead for 3P (a project using a new approach for TB R&D) said:

“The results of the latest G-FINGER report make disappointing reading, with investment in R&D in neglected diseases falling for the third year in a row. In the case of TB, investment into research has not increased despite a rise in people dying from this curable disease - TB has now become the infectious disease that kills the most people globally.

“It is vital that investment in TB R&D is increased and that countries such as the BRICS play an increasing role in funding R&D into TB. With increased funding, new innovative funding mechanisms being investigated for TB drug development, such as the 3P Project, will be able to develop the treatments so desperately needed.”

Read the full report

Source: The Union