Government action needed to step up research and development for world's most neglected diseases.

摘要

It is shocking that at the start of the 21st century, when science and technology are advancing exponentially, 35,000 people worldwide still die every day from neglected diseases such as AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis (TB), and most neglected diseases such as leishmaniasis,Chagas disease and sleeping sickness (human African trypanosomiasis HAT). While commercial drug companies line up to produce the next lot of 'me too' drugs for western illnesses, millions of people in poor countries are left to die needlessly from preventable, treatable tropical illnesses.The main challenges to increasing access of medicines to poor patients in developing countries are:1. Poor-quality and counterfeit drugs;2. Lack of availability of essential drugs due to fluctuating production or prohibitive cost;3. Need to develop field-based drug research to determine optimum utilization and remotivate research and development (RD) programs for new drugs for the developing world.