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Last
week WHO released a crucial report, Priority Medicines for Europe and the
World. The report was commissioned by the Dutch government, as the current
president of the EU, with the aim of making its findings the primary focus
of the Seventh Framework programme for European biomedical research, driving
the European research agenda from 2007 to 2010.
One goal of the project was to identify public-health priorities, present and future, which coexist in developed and developing countries and in which therapeutic advances in one setting (most likely the developed world) would benefit the other. Special attention was paid to diseases where little financial incentive exists for pharmaceutical research—the orphan diseases of the developed world and the neglected diseases of the developing world. In line with these aims, and using evidenced based and reproducible methods, a list of 17 public-health concerns was developed including antibacterial drug resistance, pandemic influenza, Buruli ulcer, postpartum haemorrhage, diabetes, and alcohol use disorders. In addition to this broad focus on key public-health issues, the report also highlighted specific populations at risk (the elderly, women, and children), and specific difficulties in the management of the issues identified. In developing countries the lack of heat-stable insulin and heat-stable oxytocin are both barriers to effective disease management. Fixed-dose combination drugs were also identified as an important area for development in drug delivery that could have a major impact on disease control in many conditions. Finally, the report considered how to promote innovation in biomedical research and identified increasing publicprivate partnerships, pricing policy reforms, and reducing unnecessary regulatory barriers as central issues that must be tackled effectively if progress is to be made. The “Priority Medicines” project represents a refreshing and innovative approach. In emphasising a research driven approach and a constructive relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and public-health organisations it paves the way for a new era in health research. By identifying public-health priorities which will benefit both developed and developing countries the report also suggests one possible solution to the problem of driving innovation in otherwise neglected health areas. The challenge now is to make use of the achievement the project represents. The question is whether the EU has the vision and courage to do so. The Lancet Vol 364 November 27, 2004 |
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