Biomedical Research in Developing Countries - UNICRI

It should be noted, however, that in Sub-Saharan Africa, more than 70% of the
disease burden is still due to Group I diseases, communicable diseases; of these, up
to one quarter can be attributed to HIV/AIDS.
THE INTERNATIONAL HEALTH RESEARCH SCENARIO
In 1998, the Commission on Health Research recommended developing countries to
devote at least 2% of their national health budget to national research priorities and
developed countries to allocate at least 5% of funding to strengthen health research
and research capacity in developing countries. However, still a few governments in
the developed world are securing this quota of their budget for health research into
developing countries priorities and the same happens within developing countries.
In its latest report 11 , The Global Forum for Health Research, shows that 2005
financial flows for health research are basically unchanged from the previous years,
with pharmaceutical companies still being the biggest investors in health R&D,
globally accounting for 48% of global expenditure (USD 60.6 billion). The for-profit
companies are followed by the public sector, which accounted for 45% of overall
expenditures (USD 56.1 billion). Not for profit organizations and foundations
contributed with 7% (USD 9 billion).
R&D expenditure by PhRMA member companies 12 was estimated at US$44.5 billion
in 2007 against a total industry expenditure of USD 58.8 billion. However, just
0.1% of that amount (US$25 million) was spent on R&D in Africa. Neglected
diseases which are generally those relevant to low- and middle-income countries
and are accounted among the communicable diseases, continue to be neglected in
comparison to the budget devoted to non-communicable diseases which are relevant
to high income countries. This happens in spite of the fact that, according to WHO,
the global burden of communicable diseases, concentrated in low-and middleincome
countries, is 13 times higher (if measured by the DALYs) than the global
burden of non-communicable diseases, the main health concern of the developed
world.
This inequality in research funding is reflected in the marketing of new medical
products. Of the 1,233 drugs that reached the market between 1975 and 1997, only
13 were for tropical diseases. 13
IMS Health 14 reports a steady growth in the R&D pipeline in 2007, especially in the
number of products in Phase I and Phase II clinical development. At the end of 2006,
11 De Francisco, A. Matlin, S. (Eds.), Monitoring financial flows for health research 2006, The changing landscape of
health research for development, Global Forum for Health Research, 2006
12 Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, PhRMA Annual Membership Survey, 2006
13 Global Forum for Health Research, 2002
14 IMS – Intelligence Applied (Accessed at
http://www1.imshealth.com/web/home/0,3153,64576068_63872702,00.html on December 2008)
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