Center for Global Health R&D Policy Assessment

In thinking about neglected disease technologies, we often overlook the specialized needs of pediatric patients. Advocacy groups have done an excellent job in illuminating the gaps in appropriate pediatric ARVs, but what about other disease areas? And what are the obstacles in developing the right neglected disease technologies for children more broadly? After a little digging, a few important issues came forward.

New Technologies. There is undoubtedly a need for new neglected disease technologies for children, especially in diagnostics.

Recently, I attended a conference in Bangalore, “TB Diagnostics in India: From importation and imitation to innovation” that brought together a diverse group that included public researchers, firms, venture capitalists, international donors and others to discuss the need for better TB diagnostics and the role that Indian firms might play in developing them.

A guest blog by Nora Engel and Madhukar Pai

BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) recently unveiled its proposal for a milestone-based prize for point-of-care (POC) fever diagnostics (“The Global Health Innovation Quotient Prize”) at the Partnering for Global Health Forum in Washington, DC and submitted it to the WHO Consultative Expert Working Group on R&D: Financing and Coordination.