Appeal launched to step up research and development for neglected dise
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《英国医生杂志》
A number of Nobel laureates, researchers, doctors, and non-governmental organisations joined the independent foundation Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative last week. This appeals for the development of drugs, diagnostic tests, and vaccines for diseases which mainly affect people in developing countries, and which have therefore been neglected by the pharmaceutical industry.
The appeal was launched simultaneously in London, New Delhi, Nairobi, and Rio de Janeiro and was supported by Médecins Sans Frontières and Oxfam. The launch was exactly one month before the meeting of the G8 (the world's most industrialised countries) in Gleneagles, Scotland, where the leaders of the world's richest nations will be discussing global health, Africa, and development.
The appeal asks governments to make neglected diseases a research priority, to provide sustained financial support for such research, and to reduce patent and regulatory barriers for products for such diseases. Bernard Pecoul, executive director of the initiative, said, "There needs to be a fundamental overhaul of the current system to properly address the fatal imbalance in the current system."
Every day, more than 35 000 people worldwide die from infectious diseases, such as AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and more neglected diseases, such as leishmaniasis, Chagas' disease, and sleeping sickness. Despite this, there are no safe, affordable, effective, and field adapted vaccines, diagnostic tests, and drugs to tackle them.
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative used a postcard (above) to get its message across
Credit: DRUGS FOR NEGLECTED DISEASES
Tido von Schoen-Angerer, coordinator of research and development for Médecins Sans Frontières' campaign for access to essential medicines, said, "We cannot accept that we must practise second class medicine just because our patients live in poor countries. We need a culture of medical innovation that meets the needs of neglected patients." He added, "Only strong international leadership will make this happen."
John Sulston, who shared the Nobel prize for physiology in 2002 for sequencing the human genome, signed up to the appeal and told the audience in London that the human genome project could not have happened without clear political leadership and investment in the "public good."
He saw this latest development as a natural progression from the success of the human genome project, which was "an example of the general access to knowledge that is absolutely fundamental to progress in science and medicine."(Rhona MacDonald)
The appeal was launched simultaneously in London, New Delhi, Nairobi, and Rio de Janeiro and was supported by Médecins Sans Frontières and Oxfam. The launch was exactly one month before the meeting of the G8 (the world's most industrialised countries) in Gleneagles, Scotland, where the leaders of the world's richest nations will be discussing global health, Africa, and development.
The appeal asks governments to make neglected diseases a research priority, to provide sustained financial support for such research, and to reduce patent and regulatory barriers for products for such diseases. Bernard Pecoul, executive director of the initiative, said, "There needs to be a fundamental overhaul of the current system to properly address the fatal imbalance in the current system."
Every day, more than 35 000 people worldwide die from infectious diseases, such as AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and more neglected diseases, such as leishmaniasis, Chagas' disease, and sleeping sickness. Despite this, there are no safe, affordable, effective, and field adapted vaccines, diagnostic tests, and drugs to tackle them.
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative used a postcard (above) to get its message across
Credit: DRUGS FOR NEGLECTED DISEASES
Tido von Schoen-Angerer, coordinator of research and development for Médecins Sans Frontières' campaign for access to essential medicines, said, "We cannot accept that we must practise second class medicine just because our patients live in poor countries. We need a culture of medical innovation that meets the needs of neglected patients." He added, "Only strong international leadership will make this happen."
John Sulston, who shared the Nobel prize for physiology in 2002 for sequencing the human genome, signed up to the appeal and told the audience in London that the human genome project could not have happened without clear political leadership and investment in the "public good."
He saw this latest development as a natural progression from the success of the human genome project, which was "an example of the general access to knowledge that is absolutely fundamental to progress in science and medicine."(Rhona MacDonald)