Rachel Cohen: Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative
"Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative: New Hope for Forgotten Patients" - Opening Scientific Collaboration for Innovation in Global Health (OpenSCI) 2012: A conference sponsored by the Program on Global Health and Technology Access and the 2012 class of graduate seminar PubPol 213S: "Designing Innovation for Global Health" Rachel Cohen, the North American Regional Executive Director for the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), discussed DNDi's model to develop affordable medicines for diseases endemic to developing countries. Over the past quarter of a century, less than 2 percent of all drugs developed have been medicines to treat neglected tropical diseases, tuberculosis, and malaria, despite their significant burden of disease. As most of those afflicted with neglected diseases do not constitute a paying market, their health needs are not prioritized by industry. It is for this reason that the DNDi product development partnership was created, consisting of several research institutions from the Global South, Doctors Without Borders, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, among others. Since 2007, DNDi's collaborative efforts has led to the development of 6 non-patented, easy-to-use, and affordable treatments for malaria, human African trypanosomiasis, and visceral leishmaniasis. Moreover, DNDi has successfully developed these treatments as public goods at a fraction of the R&D cost figures often associated with traditional drug R&D models
