Unequal partnership
The preferred paradigm to address the obvious shortage of drugs for neglected diseases has been ppps between governments or international agencies on one side and the pharmaceutical industry on the other. Though the success of this paradigm has been loudly trumpeted, it has fundamental problems that make it unworkable in existing formats.
To begin with, it must be stressed, there is a mismatch between what is needed and what is being done. In a 30-year period between 1975 and 2004, only 21 drugs have been developed for tropical diseases and tb. Research on drugs for neglected diseases did gain some momentum after 2000 when 60 drug development projects for neglected disease were initiated, mainly as ppps. By 2005, 18 of these drugs were in clinical trials and two drugs were registered.
In some cases, ppps have managed to get a few