A Look At Latest Figures On R&D For Neglected Diseases

Financing for research and development into so-called neglected diseases – those predominantly affecting lower-income populations – rose recently mainly due to the Ebola outbreak, and private sector contributions represent a bigger share, according to the latest available data from a Gates Foundation-supported database.

Policy Cures Research, an organisation devoted to providing analysis to support research and development efforts for diseases which primarily affect the developing world, has released its 2016 G-FINDER report, on research and development funding in 2015 for neglected diseases.

Policy Cures Research analyses funding for numerous neglected tropical diseases, as well as Ebola, malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS. Data is collected by Policy Cures Research through its G-Finder database, which sends surveys to public, philanthropic, and private funders. The database tracks basic research, drugs, diagnostics, preventative and therapeutic vaccines, and vector control.

The report finds that in 2015, funding for Ebola and other African viral haemorrhagic fevers was US$631 million, with the majority of these funds going towards Ebola research and development. The increase reflects R&D spending after the 2014 Ebola outbreak. The year 2014 was the first in which Ebola funding was tracked by Policy Cures, making a significant trend in spending difficult to gauge.

The report has distinguished the influence of Ebola on total R&D spending, noting that if Ebola is included, total funding for neglected diseases increased by 13 percent, to a total of US$3,627 million. Without the impact of Ebola financing, total R&D for neglected diseases fell by 2.3 percent, US$68 million, from 2014 figures.

While public funding, primarily from the United States, European Union and United Kingdom, comprised 72 percent of total spending on R&D for neglected diseases, the report showed that the total public sector share continued to decline from past years.

Investment from the private sector, included multinational pharmaceutical corporations and small to mid-sized enterprises. The private sector’s contribution to financing research and development was US$471 million, or 15 percent of total funding, the highest share of private sector contribution yet recorded by the survey.

Funding from philanthropic organisations remained essentially unchanged from prior years. The report shows that the stake from this sector is highly concentrated, with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation contributing a bit over 17 percent of all neglected disease R&D spending in 2015.

The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) released a statement on 16 February summarising the report’s findings for private industry, and specifically noting that the large number of companies in the private sector creates the potential for this funding to be a more stable source than public or philanthropic backing.

Kim Treanor is an intern at Intellectual Property Watch and a student in the graduate program of International Affairs at the New School in New York, where she studies development, trade and public health.