Forbes: Drug Development For Neglected Diseases Has Stagnated
Joshua Cohen, independent health care analyst

“There’s good news on neglected diseases. Donors of diagnostics and medications … are fulfilling the obligations laid out in the 2012 London Declaration. … But elsewhere progress has been limited. … Partly as a result of continued limited funding earmarked for neglected disease drug development, the numbers of drugs and vaccines in the pipeline have been about the same since 2011 as they were in the 10 years prior to 2011. Also, implementation of innovative policy measures, such as the priority review voucher, have not led to appreciable increases in numbers of new drugs in clinical development, approved products, or improved access. … Closing the gap in funding may spur further successful development of drugs currently in the pipeline. Furthermore, adjustments to the priority review voucher program may be needed to incentivize R&D in new molecular entities and biologics” (7/5).

Financial Times: Letter: Drugs companies are rising to the challenges of research into superbugs
Thomas Cueni, director general of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations

“I respectfully disagree with Jim O’Neill’s comments on pharmaceutical companies’ inaction on combating antimicrobial resistance … Pharmaceutical companies are not only active in R&D, but are taking many other tangible steps across the continuum of care — from prevention, monitoring, and screening to treatment. … Actions taken by governments to support innovation today have an immediate impact on companies’ investment and therefore also influence the development and availability of treatment options 10 or 15 years from now. We are encouraged by action taken last week by the U.S. Congress in the introduction of legislation that offers the first substantial incentive for the development and introduction of new anti-infective medicines offered by any government to address AMR. The legislation offers an important model on how to sustainably incentivize end-to-end antibiotic and vaccine development, while balancing important public health stewardship provisions. Finding creative and sustainable solutions to AMR requires thinking outside the box and the full impact of industry’s efforts can only be made through collaborations with governments” (7/3).