Latest IFPMA Developing World Disease R&D Status Report Shows Continued Expansion Of Industry Research Effort

Medical News Today
November 6, 2007

Ahead of the second meeting of the WHO Inter-Governmental Working Group on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property (IGWG), 5-10 November 2007, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) is pleased to publish an updated survey of industry R&D projects for diseases of the developing world.

This update confirms that the trend the IFPMA reported last year(1), of increasing industry R&D for diseases of the developing world, has been maintained in 2007. Its member companies are now working on 50 potential medicines in this area, compared to 43 such projects at the end of 2006. In the same period, the number of ongoing IFPMA company vaccine projects to address developing world diseases has grown from 6 to 8.

Dr. Harvey Bale, Director General of the IFPMA, said: "The WHO IGWG is about to resume an important policy debate about how to increase R&D for diseases of the developing world. The combination of the industry-based model and public-private product development partnerships is increasing R&D in this field, and the R&D pharmaceutical industry encourages IGWG participants to support positive proposals that would reinforce this important trend. As the updated IFPMA status report shows, the number of candidate products in development for tuberculosis has increased to 22, of which 6 are now being tested on patients in Phase II or Phase III clinical trials. More than half of all the tuberculosis projects are being conducted by companies working with product development partnerships."

(1) IFPMA Release R&D Pharmaceutical Industry Continues to Increase Research into Neglected Diseases, in Public-Private Partnerships and Working Alone, 6 November 2006.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/87805.php