The role of Product Development Partnerships in research and development for neglected diseases.

Product Development Partnerships (PDPs) are playing an increasingly important role in the development of new medicines for neglected diseases of the developing world; however, there has been limited information on their funding and expenditure patterns. This paper analyses funding for the 14 PDPs working on neglected disease research and development (R&D) by using unpublished data from the Global Funding of Innovation for Neglected Diseases (G-FINDER) project, which surveyed 2007 global investments into R&D of products for neglected diseases. PDPs captured US$469 million or 23% of 'external' R&D funding for neglected diseases, i.