Neglected Disease Treatments

Photo By: AJ Cann

A report from the World Health Organization states that if all countries spend .01% of their annual gross domestic product on neglected diseases, 6 billion dollars would be accumulated for research (1). “Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a group of chronic disabling infections affecting more than 1 billion people worldwide...NTDs contribute to an ongoing cycle of poverty and stigma that leaves people unable to work, go to school or participate in family and community life” (2). Kala-azar is an example of a popular neglected disease, and is second to malaria for being the most deadly parasitic disease. The disease, kala-azar, affects the people of India, Brazil, and Sudan through the bites of a sand-fly. The emergence of neglected diseases has been overshadowed by the growing research for larger diseases due to the fact that pharmaceutical companies receive more money from these more prominent diseases. Neglected diseases is an issue that have substantially been living under the radar and should be brought to the public eye with the help of the government and public.

Pharmaceutical companies can hold some fault for the scarcity of neglected disease treatments. “Today, drug development is confined almost exclusively to a consolidated and highly competitive multinational drug industry driven by profit and subject to the laws of a globalized market economy” (3). This illustrates that the more popular and profitable diseases hold a significantly higher ranking in the pharmaceutical system. “The most frequently voiced argument to explain or justify the pharmaceutical industry’s near-zero investment in drugs for tropical infectious diseases is the high development cost compared with the small expected financial return” (3). Pharmaceutical companies will only create drugs and treatments for diseases where they can receive some incentive for creating them. This incentive is mainly money, since neglected diseases primarily attack poverty stricken areas, pharmaceutical companies will receive no feedback from creating treatments for neglected diseases. This portrays an obviously important problem because without money to create drugs and treatments, pharmaceutical companies have no way to help neglected diseases. Although pharmaceutical companies have had little impact on the treatments for neglected diseases, PPP’s have also not been contributing to the research and treatments of neglected diseases like they should.

Another program created to aid the profit of neglected diseases are named PPP’s, which is an acronym for public-private-partnerships. These partnerships have turned out for the worse and have created a number of problems. The main reason these partnerships have failed is the lack of support from the government. Due to the fact that there are numerous public-private-partnerships, governments have a difficult time deciding which PPP to invest money in. These public-private-partnerships have just been recently created therefore have little experience. This is the cause for worry because people are afraid they will not properly deal with the money that they are given. “The general view is that PPPs are inexperienced in drug development, and may eat up public cash without delivering the tools we need, while the real experience and capability in drug development lies with multinational pharmaceutical companies” (4). This quote reiterates the view that these partnerships are not able to fund the research needed for neglected diseases. An individual partnership or company can not create the adequate support that neglected diseases need, therefore a combined effort is crucial for the development of treatments.

Photo By: Newtown Grafitti

The way that neglected diseases will receive the attention they need is to have a combined effort by the public and the governments of various countries. “The best hope of treating the world's most neglected diseases is for the public to accept responsibility for drug development, taking it out of the marketplace and into the public sector” (5). “There will need to be concerted political attention to make available the necessary financial and technical resources” (5). These two quotes reflect my opinion of what could be the solution to getting proper research and treatment for neglected diseases. The public needs to make more of an effort to show that they are interested with aiding neglected disease treatment research. By getting the public involved this will set a chain reaction for the government to also get involved. Once the government and the public are involved, money and aid for research will begin to increase. Like I said before, if country governments promise to spend .01% of their annual gross, 6 billion dollars would be raised to help aid neglected diseases. (1) ““Donors should ensure that there is adequate funding for the treatment and prevention of parasitic diseases and micronutrient deficiency;” and “governments and global health partnerships should ensure that this [funding] is integrated into public health campaigns by 2006”” (6). This quote explains perfectly the actions that need to be taken for neglected diseases to get the recognition they need. The goal is to increase donations through the increased involvement by the public, and to increase the budget for neglected diseases by the government.

Neglected diseases have ultimately been overlooked by more prominent diseases and need the combination of the public and the government to build up money so that it can be spent on research and treatments. A company or partnership will not get the job done, but a combined effort will help raise enough money that these neglected diseases need. Pharmaceutical companies can not hold the responsibility of finding treatments to neglected diseases in this situation because they receive no money or kickback from creating treatments due to the poverty that the diseases fester in. Neglected diseases may seem small compared to other popular diseases, but they still affect numerous amounts of people and cause death.


Bibliography

1. Hayden EH. 2014. Projects set to tackle neglected diseases. Nature (1st) [Internet]. [2014 Jan 09, cited 2014 Jan 30] Vol-505 Issue-7482. Available from: http://www.nature.com/news/projects-set-to-tackle-neglected-diseases-1.14474

2. Richter NR, Volkswagenstiftung TV. **Date of Publication**. About the Initiative [Internet]. **Edition**. **City**(**State**):**Publisher**; [**Last Updated**, cited 2014 Mar 6] . Available from: http://www.ntd-africa.net/

3. Trouiller PT, Torreele ET, Olliaro PO, White NW, Foster SF, Wirth DW, Pecoul BP. 2002. Drugs for neglected diseases: a failure of the market and a public health failure?. TM&IH (1st) [Internet]. [2002 Jan 13, cited 2014 Feb 02] Vol-6, Issue-11. Available from: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1046/j.1365-3156.2001.00803.x/full

4. Moran MM. 2005. A Breakthrough in R&D for neglected diseases: New ways to get the drugs we need. PLOS Medicine (302) [Internet]. [2005 Sep 08, cited 2014 Feb 03] 10(1371). Available from: http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.0020302

5. Yamey GY. 2002. The world's most neglected diseases. BMJ (1st) [Internet]. [2002 Aug 17, cited 2014 Feb 03] 325(7360). Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1123710/6. Molyneux DM, Hotex PH, Fenwick AF. 2005. "Rapid-Impact Interventions": How a policy of integrated control for Africa's Neglected Tropical Diseases could benefit the poor. PLOS Medicine (1st) [Internet]. [2005 Oct 11, cited 2014 Feb 02] **Journal Info**. Available from: http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.0020336