Health Product Research and Development Fund: a Proposal for Financing and Operation
Overview
This report is a key milestone in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) commitments to support the development of a more equitable system of health research and development (R&D). It is the first attempt to provide an analysis of the current R&D landscape for diseases of poverty, and to propose how to de-link the cost of these products from their research and development.
The WHO Director-General requested TDR, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, to explore the possibility of using TDR’s existing governance mechanism to host a pooled fund raised by WHO. The report summarizes this analysis. It includes the current R&D landscape for Type III and II diseases; presents options for setting up a R&D financing mechanism; provides guidance on how to operate this mechanism, including setting up a Scientific Working Group; and reviews the set of tools that would assist this group in decision-making and portfolio management.
Developing countries’ special R&D needs for Type I diseases was not investigated, but the financial mechanism presented in this report would still be applicable as this broadly falls under the need to repurpose existing health products.