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Tracking the Shortfall in TB Research Funding. Javid Syed Treatment Action Group (TAG). What is Needed?. Global Plan estimates that $9 billion needed from 2006 to 2015 to meet goals rolling back TB levels by 2015 elimination of TB by 2050
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Tracking the Shortfall in TB Research Funding Javid Syed Treatment Action Group (TAG)
What is Needed? • Global Plan estimates that $9 billion needed from 2006 to 2015 to meet goals • rolling back TB levels by 2015 • elimination of TB by 2050 • Estimate includes drugs, diagnostics, and vaccine research, but not basic and operational research
How Are We Doing? • Who is funding TB research? • How much is being spent? • What are the trends in TB research spending? • How much research is currently being funded in each category? • How much more money is needed? • Are we reaching the Global Plan targets?
Tuberculosis R&D: A Critical Analysis ofFunding Trends, 2005–2006 • TAG tracked TB research investment in 2005 and 2006 • Goal: Help policymakers, funders, researchers, and advocates understand the current state of research on TB, and provide a baseline for understanding how much TB research funding will need to increase in order to bring TB under control over the next decade. • Method: • Inquiry sent to 100 known and potential funders • Reasonable follow up (persistent with known funders) • Criteria for inclusion: • Original source of funding (not pass through) • Money actually disbursed in fiscal year (not granted or announced; not multi-year)
Tuberculosis R&D: A Critical Analysis ofFunding Trends, 2005–2006 • Strengths: • TB research space is not huge (unfortunately) • Many public donors have duty to report • Few industry investors; smaller companies willing to disclose • Limits: • Self reported; categorized by donor or by TAG • no standard definitions of research categories, phase, or focus • Large proportion for “unspecified” research (infrastructure?) • Industry unwilling to disclose (offered anonymity) • Confusion about criteria (disbursement vs. granting) • Non-response • TAG’s results in general agreement with TB investment estimation by bibliometric methods (Lewison 2004)
2006 TB Research Investment Results Who Donates? How Much? • $429,166,680 reported spent by 42 funders • Top 10 donors: • US NIH (NIAID) $119,717,818 • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation 96,466,861 • Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. 22,900,000 • Wellcome Trust 18,380,741 • US NIH (other institutes) 17,579,000 • US CDC 17,057,774 • US NIH (NHLBI) 13,139,532 • European Commission 12,804,807 • UK Dept for Intl Development (DFID) 12,576,359 • Institut Pasteur 8,785,490
Slow Growth in TB Investment • 2005 Total: $392.7 million • 2006 Total: $429.2 million* • Increased by $36.5 million (9%) • Largest increase by philanthropy sector * (~ $5M low due to Inserm not reporting in 2006)
2006 TB R&D Investment What is Being Funded? • Drug research 33.6% $144,264,486 • Basic science 23.4% $100,218,236 • Vaccines 18.2% $78,092,104 • Diagnostics 7.3% $31,424,479 • Operational rsch 7.5% $32,097,698 • Unspecified 10.0% $43,069,677 • Total $429,166,680
How Are We Doing? • Global Plan estimated needed investment for TB drugs, vaccine, and diagnostics as ~$1 billion per year from 2006 to 2015 • TAG estimated needed investment is ~$2 billion per year when basic science and operational research is included • By either measure we are falling short • gap is growing
Conclusions • TB R&D funding is falling far short of the need estimated by the Global Plan to Stop TB: 2006-2015 • TB R&D funding increased only slightly from 2005 to 2006 • greatest increase in drug research • Philanthropic giving increasing faster than public sector investment
Recommendations • Increase TB research investment five-fold to meet goals set in Global Plan • Develop a global TB R&D agenda that includes basic and operational research • Better coordination required for TB R&D, globally and nationally • Donors should track and transparently report on TB R&D investments