Published: January 2017

The R&D funding flows for neglected diseases are collected from the Policy Cures Research G-FINDER survey. This collects funding data from over 200 private, public and philanthropic organizations on product-related R&D and basic research investments in 35 neglected diseases. (Note: the 35 neglected disease names have been reclassified here into 40 diseases; see the Classifications and standards section for the rationale and approach.)

See also:

What you see | Scope and limitations | Data sources | Current version

What you see

The data visualization illustrates funding trends by year, and % differences with previous year (top left double chart), disease (right chart), and product type (bottom left chart) for the period 2007–2014. The data in the years prior to 2014 are adjusted for inflation and presented in US$ 2014 (adjustment performed by the data source).

Points to note:

• The G-Finder survey data underestimate the total R&D investments for these diseases as reporting is incomplete and need to be interpreted cautiously due to the scope restrictions of the survey (outlined below).
• R&D investments on neglected diseases in 2014 was around US$ 3.5 billion, 25% higher than in 2007 (US$ 2.8 billion). (Top left chart.)
• R&D investments on HIV/AIDS accounted for 32% of total investments in neglected diseases in 2014 (approximately US$ 1 billion), followed by malaria and tuberculosis (18% and 17% each respectively). (Top right chart.)
• R&D for vaccine development received the highest funding over the eight year period (US$ 9.6 billion) followed by basic research (US$ 6.1 billion) and drugs (US$ 4.8 billion). (Bottom left chart.)
• US$ 2.6 billion of unspecified R&D funding account for investments which cannot be allocated to an R&D category.

Scope and limitations

The data must be interpreted cautiously because of the specific scope restrictions of the G-FINDER survey (see the two links below for detail). The scope of the G-FINDER survey is determined by applying the following three criteria. (R&D investments which do not meet these criteria are excluded.)

• The disease disproportionately affects people in developing countries.
• There is a need for new products (i.e. there is either no existing product, or improved or additional products are needed).
• There is market failure in developing these new products (i.e. there is an insufficient commercial market to attract R&D by private industry).

For some diseases, only R&D funding for developing-country specific serotypes/strains or products are included. For example, genotypes 4, 5, and 6 only are included for hepatitis C.

In addition, the funding data from industry is presented in an aggregated form for confidentiality. This means that funding levels by disease and R&D category substantially underestimate the actual investments in these diseases within the scope of G-FINDER described above.

To explore the data further:

• Select a single year (by clicking on a time point on the trend line or on the year-specific bar) to filter annual funding data by disease and product type and to compare year to year estimates and differences. (Top left chart.)
• Select a disease to filter annual funding data by year and product type.
• Select by product type to filter annual funding data by year and disease.
• Undo the selection by selecting ‘undo’ or ‘reset’ near the bottom of the visualization or by selecting the same element again.
  -- For example, selecting drugs shows that almost three quarters (72%) of total funding for neglected diseases on medicines is concentrated in tuberculosis (US$ 1.8 billion) and malaria (US$ 1.7 billion).
• Hover the cursor on a bar in a graphic to see more information in a popup window (e.g. year, investment amount, % difference [with previous year], health issue, product type).

Data sources

• Policy Cures Research G-FINDER
• G-FINDER public search tool