Center for Global Health R&D Policy Assessment

Championed by Novartis, the Fund for Research in Neglected Disease (FRIND) would apply the portfolio management techniques used by private pharmaceutical firms for their mainstream drug pipelines for research in neglected disease. The proponents of FRIND argue that many individual research projects, some of which may duplicate efforts, currently compete for an inadequate pool of donor funding. FRIND proposes that all available funding be pooled and then allocated by a board that represents developing countries, major funders, OECD countries and other international health stakeholders. Portfolio management teams functioning underneath this board would guide the R&D for a specific disease. As projects meet milestone targets, additional payments would be made for incremental successes. FRIND proposes data sharing between projects in order speed innovation and stopping or redirecting poorly performing projects as early as possible.