Large public-private partnership announced to speed progress against NTDs

Thirteen pharmaceutical companies; the governments of the U.S., U.K. and United Arab Emirates; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; the WHO; the World Bank; the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi); and other global health organizations "announced a new, coordinated push to accelerate progress toward eliminating or controlling 10 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) by the end of the decade," according to a press release (.pdf) from Global Health Strategies. "In the largest coordinated effort to date to combat NTDs," the partners will provide 14 billion doses of medications by the end of the decade and share expertise and products to speed research and development of new drugs, the press release notes.

"Commitments total $785 million for research, development and distribution, including $363 million from the [Gates Foundation] over five years for research" and $89 million from USAID to strengthen drug delivery and distribution programs, adding to the $212 million provided since 2006, the press release says. "Partners also endorsed the 'London Declaration on Neglected Tropical Diseases' (.pdf), in which they pledged new levels of collaborative effort and tracking of progress," and the WHO last week released a new guiding strategy, "Accelerating work to overcome the global impact of neglected tropical diseases -- A roadmap for implementation" (.pdf), "that sets targets for what can be achieved by the end of the decade," the press release states (1/30).

Additional coverage of the announcement is available from Bloomberg, the Guardian, and Reuters.