Research-based pharma pledges on neglected tropical diseases

The research-based pharmaceutical industry has announced donations of 14 billion treatments this decade to support the elimination or control of nine key neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), according to the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA). Averaging 1.4 billion treatments annually, the donations build upon companies’ existing medicines donation programmes which already reach millions of people around the world.

Yesterday’s IFPMA announcement comes in conjunction with an NTD collaboration comprised of 13 pharmaceutical companies, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the US, UK and UAE governments, international organizations and endemic countries’ national governments of a new, coordinated push to accelerate progress toward eliminating or controlling 10 neglected tropical diseases by the end of the decade.

In the largest coordinated effort to date to combat NTDs, the group announced at an event at the Royal College of Physicians in London, UK, that they would: sustain or expand existing drug donation programs to meet demand through 2020; share expertise and compounds to accelerate R&D of new drugs; and provide more than $785 million to support R&D efforts and strengthen drug distribution and implementation programs. Partners also endorsed the “London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases,” in which they pledged new levels of collaborative effort and tracking of progress.