A study released by the London School of Economics credits public-private partnerships (PPPs), such as the TB Alliance, for the recent renewal of R&D for drug development for neglected diseases and calls on policy-makers to support these organizations.
Research led by Dr. Mary Moran and financed by Wellcome Trust, a member of the TB Alliance Stakeholders Association, examined the status of R&D for ten diseases that disproportionately affect the developing world, including TB and malaria.
Dr. Moran’s research found that there has been a significant increase in activity since 2000, with at least 63 active drug-development projects underway and 18 potential drugs in clinical trials. The TB Alliance lead candidate PA-824 entered clinical trials in June 2005, after the conclusion of Dr. Moran’s research.
Three-quarters of these projects are under the supervision of a PPP, which, in the four years to 2004, spent $112 million on a combined portfolio of 46 drug projects. This stands in stark contrast to the $400 million necessary for a company to bring one commercial drug to market.
The report suggests that PPPs are successfully leveraging the assets of both the public and private sectors, streamlining development costs, creating a new set of incentives for companies to invest and ensuring affordable pricing for resulting medicines.
“This report gives us confidence that PPPs are stimulating an unprecedented level of research into badly needed, new drugs for neglected diseases,” said Dr. Ted Bianco, director of technology transfer at the Wellcome Trust.
The report was published in this month’s edition of Public Library of Science Medicine.