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Jobs Classifieds -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Services Advertise - print - online Delivery - paper - e-mail - handheld Subculture -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help Audio/video - WORLD Drug firms 'neglect diseases of the poor' By Sarah Boseley in London There are hardly any new medicines in the pipeline for diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, sleeping sickness and leishmaniasis - illnesses that are taking a huge and growing toll in deaths and suffering among the poorest people in the world, a new report says. The drug giants are focusing almost exclusively on the afflictions of the affluent north, according to Médecins Sans Frontières, which convened a working group of distinguished academics to find some answers to the disastrous shortage of medicines for killer tropical diseases. Their report, to be published today, points out that in stark contrast, there are eight new drugs on the way for impotence and seven for obesity. The working group on drugs for neglected diseases wrote to the world's top 20 pharmaceutical companies to find out what medicines they were developing for poor countries. None of the 11 that responded, including Pfizer, Johnson&Johnson and Novartis, had brought a drug to market in the past five years for malaria, tuberculosis, sleeping sickness, Chagas's disease, leishmaniasis or other neglected diseases. The prospects for the future look grim. Even with malaria and tuberculosis, where there are effective drugs, a constant stream of new ones is badly needed because of growing resistance to the drugs we have. But the firms revealed they were spending less than 1 per cent of their research and development budgets on neglected diseases. Harvey Bale, director-general of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Associations, which represents companies from more than 60 countries, said the study "distorts reality". "More research is of course needed, but there are effective treatments for the diseases they mention. The problem is that these drugs aren't getting to the people that need them." Yet millions are dying. Sleeping sickness threatens more than 60million people in sub-Saharan Africa. Until recently only one drug could help once the disease reached the brain - melarsoprol, the last remaining derivative of arsenic, which killed a substantial number of those treated. In 1990 eflornithine was licensed for one form of sleeping sickness. But production stopped in 1999 because it was unprofitable. Production resumed when a new use for the drug was discovered - in hair-removing cream. The pharmaceutical company Aventis has now handed the licence to the World Health Organisation, which is looking for a new source of production. Professor Nick White, of Oxford University's centre for tropical medicine at Mahidol University in Thailand, who is on the working group, says there is no commercial incentive to develop the drugs. "It may be even more serious. There may be a positive disincentive for a pharmaceutical company to become involved in the development of any of these drugs for poor countries," he said. If one of their scientists was to come up with a compound for sleeping sickness, for example, not only would it be unprofitable, but the drug might be fairly toxic, which could lead to lawsuits. The group's report, "Fatal Imbalance: the crisis in research and development for drugs for neglected diseases", says the public sector is also looking for returns on its money; grants to university departments tend to go to projects that will have commercial success. Public-private partnerships are being forged, but have not yet proved they can deliver. The report suggests radical alternatives, such as obliging drug companies, which reap the benefits of state-funded academic discoveries, to invest in neglected diseases, and encouraging pharmaceutical development in developing countries. The Guardian [go to top] In this section Taliban declares jihad A classroom of terror for 5,000 young men After clearing the air, now the risky bit Armed forces in Afghanistan Checkmate delayed until the king is ready to take his place Opposition guerillas advance, cut off key supply route Italy, Germany arrest militants tied to bin Laden Hijack pair subscribed to papers Hawkish US stance threatens fragile coalition Blair, a target, soothes Arab feelings and maps out postwar vision Drive to plug leaks sidelines Congress News chiefs fear being propaganda pawns Howard has no idea when our forces might go Police on high alert after churches and mosques hit Police keep protests under control Islamic scholar with the President's ear If anthrax worry pain persists, just keep taking the tabloids 'Angel' to the rescue with his squeegee On a roll: capitalist America takes its revenge on T-shirts and toilet paper Line cast for bigger haul of prize tuna Drug firms 'neglect diseases of the poor' News on telekinesis materialises Hard cheese, court tells Italian firm Travellers' choice: a nip, a tuck and a pad thai please -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Site Guide | Archive | Feedback | Privacy Policy Copyright © 2001. 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