Stronger incentives to smaller biomedical companies rather than to large pharmaceutical groups could help boost the development of treatments for "neglected" diseases of the developing world such as malaria and tuberculosis, according to a report commissioned by the Wellcome Trust, the London-based medical charity.
Fresh finance and help for small companies in winning approval from the regulatory authorities of developing countries could create profitable markets to provide medicines for poorer countries that are more sustainable than the existing philanthropic system. Such diseases, affecting mostly Africa, have long been neglected by pharmaceutical companies because of the relatively modest returns for such drugs compared with those from rich countries.
