Financing innovation for neglected diseases
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Miraldo, Marisa
Shaikh, Mujaheed
Gad, Mohamed
Type
Chapter
Abstract
Chapter 3.10 evaluates innovative financing for neglected diseases. Neglected diseases (NDs) account for about a fifth of the global burden of disease and affect over a billion people. They are neglected because the pharmaceutical sector does not consider it profitable to develop treatments for them. This reflects that fact that NDs are most prevalent in low- and middle-income countries with relatively low purchasing potential. Key learning includes that
Global pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) invests a disproportionate share of innovation, activity and resources in low burden diseases and fosters significant inequities.
A range of push and pull incentive mechanisms have been developed to delink the cost of research from market profitability and promote innovation in areas of need.
These include measures to
– Reduce the upfront costs by subsidizing R&D pre-discovery (push incentives) and
– Offer a reward post-discovery (pull incentives)
The evidence on the effectiveness and reach of incentive schemes is scant and more needs to be done to understand the relative cost-effectiveness of the different incentive mechanisms and the extent to which they mitigate inequalities in innovation and access to new medicines.
A global, unified governance framework for needs assessment and resource allocation could usefully
– Carry out systematic comparison of the relative needs associated with NDs globally
– Assess the costs and benefits of addressing these
– Set priorities for the coordinated global allocation of funding and targeted incentive mechanisms, and
– Consider payment mechanisms that will translate research into market launches.
Global pharmaceutical research and development (R&D) invests a disproportionate share of innovation, activity and resources in low burden diseases and fosters significant inequities.
A range of push and pull incentive mechanisms have been developed to delink the cost of research from market profitability and promote innovation in areas of need.
These include measures to
– Reduce the upfront costs by subsidizing R&D pre-discovery (push incentives) and
– Offer a reward post-discovery (pull incentives)
The evidence on the effectiveness and reach of incentive schemes is scant and more needs to be done to understand the relative cost-effectiveness of the different incentive mechanisms and the extent to which they mitigate inequalities in innovation and access to new medicines.
A global, unified governance framework for needs assessment and resource allocation could usefully
– Carry out systematic comparison of the relative needs associated with NDs globally
– Assess the costs and benefits of addressing these
– Set priorities for the coordinated global allocation of funding and targeted incentive mechanisms, and
– Consider payment mechanisms that will translate research into market launches.
Editor(s)
Cylus, Jonathan
Smith, Peter C
Mossialos, Elias
Forman, Rebecca
Date Issued
2026-05-13
Citation
Paying for Health
Learning from International Experience in Health Financing, 2026, pp.611-673
Learning from International Experience in Health Financing, 2026, pp.611-673
ISBN
9781009746274
Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Start Page
611
End Page
673
Journal / Book Title
Paying for Health
Learning from International Experience in Health Financing
Learning from International Experience in Health Financing
Copyright Statement
© 2026 The Author(s). Published by Cambridge University Press. This content is Open Access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/cclicenses/
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
3.10
Date Publish Online
2026-05-13