Choosing the right incentive strategy for research and development in neglected diseases

For the first time in history, worldwide neglected disease budgets may be large enough to deliver a new drug every few years. That said, sponsors will only succeed if they extract maximum value from every dollar spent. This paper reviews possible cost-containment strategies and provides an evidence-...

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Main Author: Maurer Stephen M
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: The World Health Organization 2006-01-01
Series:Bulletin of the World Health Organization
Online Access:http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-96862006000500017
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author Maurer Stephen M
author_facet Maurer Stephen M
author_sort Maurer Stephen M
collection DOAJ
description For the first time in history, worldwide neglected disease budgets may be large enough to deliver a new drug every few years. That said, sponsors will only succeed if they extract maximum value from every dollar spent. This paper reviews possible cost-containment strategies and provides an evidence-based framework for choosing between them. Current proposals can be categorized as "end-to-end" proposals which require the sponsor to set a single reward for companies that complete the entire drug discovery process or "pay-as-you-go" schemes in which sponsors offer repeated rewards as drug candidates progress through the pipeline. A generic weakness of end-to-end proposals is that rewards are likely to be 20-30% higher than they would be in an equivalent pay-as-you-go programme. However, the benefits of pay-as-you-go programmes may be lost if commercial pharmaceutical companies are substantially better at choosing successful programmes than are their non-profit counterparts. The efficiency of pay-as-you-go methods depends on sponsors" willingness to withdraw funding from failed drug discovery programmes.
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spelling doaj.art-c91bf45a92ab480ba4181b13472c9f532024-03-02T19:44:18ZengThe World Health OrganizationBulletin of the World Health Organization0042-96862006-01-01845376381Choosing the right incentive strategy for research and development in neglected diseasesMaurer Stephen MFor the first time in history, worldwide neglected disease budgets may be large enough to deliver a new drug every few years. That said, sponsors will only succeed if they extract maximum value from every dollar spent. This paper reviews possible cost-containment strategies and provides an evidence-based framework for choosing between them. Current proposals can be categorized as "end-to-end" proposals which require the sponsor to set a single reward for companies that complete the entire drug discovery process or "pay-as-you-go" schemes in which sponsors offer repeated rewards as drug candidates progress through the pipeline. A generic weakness of end-to-end proposals is that rewards are likely to be 20-30% higher than they would be in an equivalent pay-as-you-go programme. However, the benefits of pay-as-you-go programmes may be lost if commercial pharmaceutical companies are substantially better at choosing successful programmes than are their non-profit counterparts. The efficiency of pay-as-you-go methods depends on sponsors" willingness to withdraw funding from failed drug discovery programmes.http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-96862006000500017
spellingShingle Maurer Stephen M
Choosing the right incentive strategy for research and development in neglected diseases
Bulletin of the World Health Organization
title Choosing the right incentive strategy for research and development in neglected diseases
title_full Choosing the right incentive strategy for research and development in neglected diseases
title_fullStr Choosing the right incentive strategy for research and development in neglected diseases
title_full_unstemmed Choosing the right incentive strategy for research and development in neglected diseases
title_short Choosing the right incentive strategy for research and development in neglected diseases
title_sort choosing the right incentive strategy for research and development in neglected diseases
url http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0042-96862006000500017
work_keys_str_mv AT maurerstephenm choosingtherightincentivestrategyforresearchanddevelopmentinneglecteddiseases