Abstract: A global downturn in funding is threatening research into neglected diseases...
Potential new treatments and vaccines for diseases including malaria and tuberculosis may never reach patients because of a downturn in international funding for research into "neglected" diseases, a new study has warned.
After 10 years of steady increases, global support for research and development for innovative drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics that largely affect the poor in developing countries fell by 4 per cent to $3bn last year, according to the G-Finder report produced by Policy Cures, a non-profit group.
The drop threatens a number of research programmes that have entered clinical trials in humans and offer considerable promise to improve prevention and treatment for up to 31 diseases.
Mary Moran, the organisation's director, said: "It's time for governments to step up to the plate, otherwise we risk losing a decade of investment that is
Fall in funding to combat neglected diseases
What’s the future for big pharma?
Abstract: The model for big pharma has changed. So, now what?...
If there's one thing big pharmaceutical companies and their investors agree on, it was captured yesterday in the words of British Prime Minister David Cameron: "the old big pharma model is in flux - a new model is emerging."
The Prime Minister was speaking at the FT Global Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Conference in London, where he laid out the Government's plans to encourage life sciences research in the UK.
The words came at a time when many big pharmaceutical companies are in fact looking more at emerging markets such as India and China, not only as markets for their products but also as locations for research facilities. The most recent evidence came just a few months ago when Pfizer announced the closing of its research and development facility in Sandwich, Kent.
The lure of emerging markets
Their