疾患

Neglected tropical diseases continue to cause significant morbidity and mortality in the developing world. Yet, of the 1,556 new drugs approved between 1975 and 2004, only 21 (1.3%) were specifically developed for tropical diseases and tuberculosis, even though these diseases account for 11.4% of the global disease burden. Due to a combination of market and public policy failures, drug development has largely been confined to the R&D-based pharmaceutical industry which focuses on global diseases and lifestyle conditions. In neglected disease-endemic regions, the public sector has not been able to adequately cultivate drug development expertise and capacity. The dynamics of the market and public policy failures show that a distinction between "neglected" and "most neglected" diseases can be made.

For the "most neglected" diseases, patients are so poor that they have virtually no purchasing power and cannot spark market interest in drug R&D among pharmaceutical companies. Recently, the field of R&D for neglected diseases has seen the emergence of several new organisations, new donors, new financial mechanisms, and a new political environment. However, although the global R&D landscape has improved for neglected diseases since 2003, the dire needs of the most neglected victims who carry on suffering in the developing world are still largely unmet. A recent study by G-Finder revealed that less than 5 percent of worldwide R&D funding for neglected diseases has been directed towards the most neglected diseases, such as sleeping sickness, visceral leishmaniasis, and Chagas. More than 500 million people are at risk from these three parasitic diseases. By building partnerships in both the public and the private sector - based on existing capacity, expertise, and resources – DNDi is working to foster R&D for neglected diseases that continue to affect millions of people worldwide.