Can medical product development be better aligned with global needs?

Abstract

Go to any pharmacy and you'll see a dizzying array of shampoos and facial moisturizers with new kinds emerging all the time. There is no medical need for more ways to wash your hair or moisturize your skin, but the huge financial returns guarantee continual investment by companies into rebranding. By contrast, there are many disabling or fatal diseases for which we desperately need new medical products (such as medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics)-yet few, or none, are available and the product development pipeline is bare. 1 2 Even when these medical products do become available, often they reach high income-countries first, with a time lag of up to several decades before they become available in lower income settings. How has such inequity arisen and how can it be addressed?How drug companies determine whether to engage in product development

WHO target product profiles to shape global research and development

“…In recent public health emergencies, target product profiles have been an important tool to align with research and development needs and to rapidly develop the most suitable products. 9 Target product profiles were developed to guide the development of diagnostic tools and vaccines for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), Ebola virus disease and Zika virus outbreaks ( Fig. 1 ).…”