Neglected tropical diseases, such as visceral leishmaniasis, primarily affect people in the world’s poorest regions. Unfortunately, commercially driven medical research tends to overlook these populations because they are believed to lack the financial means to constitute a lucrative market for the traditional pharmaceutical industry. Drug development today is primarily skewed to areas with the greatest commercial return rather than those with the greatest public health needs.
But the alternative model that my organization, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi), and our partners have pioneered since 2003 focuses on areas of the greatest need rather than the greatest profit. This means that we prioritize the development of treatments for diseases that have a high impact on public health, even if they are not directly profitable for the companies that develop them.