WHO Expert Working Group on R&D and Financing January 2009 G-FINDER: Global Funding of Innovation for Neglected Diseases.

WHO Expert Working Group on R&D and Financing

January 2009

G-FINDER:Global Funding of Innovation for Neglected Diseases

Presentation outline

Background

• The George Institute for International Health• Neglected diseases• Information gap for policy-makers

G-FINDER

• Aims and objectives • Survey scope and methodology• The survey• Results

The George Institute

• Mission: Improve global health through undertaking high quality research, and applying this research to health policy and practice

• 300 staff globally• HQ in Sydney (affiliated to the University of Sydney)• Research institutions in UK, India and China

• The Health Policy Division– Our brief: To provide analysis and policy tools to help governments

support research and development (R&D) of new products for neglected diseases in the most cost-effective way

– Our approach:• Empirically based (less reliance on theory/modelling)• Multi-disciplinary team: public health/ business/legal etc.• Pragmatic: Aimed at policy-makers and donors

What are the neglected diseases?

A different answer depending on who is asked:

• Commission on Health Research for Development, 1990

• World Health Organisation and the TDR diseases

• Public Library of Science (PLoS)

• Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases

• ……… among others

How much funding is really going into R&D for Neglected Diseases?

Answer: For most diseases we simply don’t know

Existing information:– Aggregate health research funding figures (COHRED & GFHR), but

much larger scope than product R&D for neglected diseases– Specific R&D funding data for HIV, TB and Malaria 2000-2005 (AVAC,

TAG, Malaria R&D Alliance)

Gaps:– There is no global R&D funding data for neglected diseases other than

the “Big 3” – For funding data is available, it cannot be reliably compared due to

different survey scopes and methodologies

The role of G-FINDER

– G-FINDER = Global Funding of Innovation for Neglected Diseases

– Aims to quantify global investment into development of new products for neglected diseases

– 5 sequential annual surveys, starting with 2007 data

– Neutral, comparable, comprehensive analysis of funding levels, patterns and trends over time

– Commissioned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Engaging leading health experts and top funders

G-FINDER is supported by:

– International Advisory Committee (AC) of 17 international health experts + additional disease/product experts as needed

Input on selecting diseases to be included in survey (i.e. which diseases classify as “neglected”?), defining survey product scope (which products for which disease?) and research classifications

– Stakeholder Network of 25 top global donors and product developers

Input on survey design, research classifications, verification procedures etc.

Survey scope

• 30 neglected diseases

• 127 disease-product areasDrugs, vaccines, diagnostics, microbicides, vector control products and platform technologies

• All R&D phases and activitiesBasic research, discovery and preclinical development, clinical development, baseline epidemiology, phase IV/pharmacovigilance

• All definitions agreed in conjunction with the AC and Stakeholders Network

G-FINDER Neglected Disease-Product Matrix

Survey recipients• Focussed on funders in 43 countries

– Public, private and philanthropic funders in:

• OECD

• EU Member States

• Other HICs and MICs known to have an active research base (e.g. Singapore, Israel and the Russian Federation)

– Public funders in selected Innovative Developing Countries (South Africa, Brazil)

– The survey will be extended in subsequent years to include:

• Private sector funding in these two IDCs

• Public funding in additional IDCs (e.g. India, China, Cuba) and other LMICs

• Also included funding intermediaries and recipients for cross-checking purposes

Survey recipients – Prioritisation

• 551 groups received survey (including the target group of 134 funders)

• 150 groups provided complete 2007 funding data

Priority No. of Surveyees

ResponseRate

Response Target

Maximum priority• Major donors (>$10 mill/year)• Major Multi-National Companies (MNCs) in field• IDCs (Brazil, South Africa)

25 92% 100%

High priority• Other key donors ( $5-10 mill/year)• Other MNCs• A range of funding intermediaries (PDPs, TDR, EDCTP etc)

and product developers (companies, academic institutions etc) to ensure coverage of all disease and product areas in the survey and for cross-checking purposes

85 91% 90%

Low priority• Other smaller funders and product developers

441 10% 10%

TOTAL 551

The online survey

The online survey (cont)

All participating survey recipients provided grant

by grant information

The online survey (cont)

• Data was self-reported according to same criteria– Every grant received/disbursed in FY 2007– Only primary data– Only disbursements (no commitments or “soft” figures)

• Survey tailored for industry – Number and cost of staff (FTEs) + direct project costs (as companies do

not give “grants”)– Overheads, cost of capital and in-kind contributions excluded– Entered according to same criteria as other recipients

• Online and phone help in 5 languages, coupled with hundreds of calls to max and high priority recipients to secure full data and ensure its accuracy

Data cleaning

• 5,116 grants recorded during the 10 week survey period

• All non-NIH entries > USD $0.5 million rigorously verified for– Accuracy

– Eligibility: did they meet survey inclusion criteria?

• All non-NIH grants cross-checked to avoid double counting in totals

– e.g. a same grant could be reported up to three times, from funder to intermediary to product developer

– Automated cross-checking of funding granted by each organisation against funding received by each organisation

– Manual verification of incorrect entries and discrepancies between funder and recipient

Data analysis

• Analysis conducted using automated reports constructed to show multiple funding cuts

– By disease – By product and research areas and possible combinations of these – By funder, geographical region, recipient type, etc.

• Industry figures analysed at aggregate level, rather than by individual company

– Breakdown between multinational pharmaceutical companies and small pharma/biotech companies.

Results – Save the Date

The G-FINDER survey findings (2007 global R&D investment data for 30 neglected diseases) will be available on 4th February 2009

– Publication of summary findings in PLoS

– Public launch of the full report in London

Please join us for the launch!

Thank you