Neglected Tropical Diseases and WIPO

January 27, 2022

Ten years ago, innovation to address neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) took center stage in WIPO’s work to support global health when WIPO Re:Search-- a public-private partnership administered by WIPO in collaboration with BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH)-- was born. At that time, we took the ambitious decision to work on 19 neglected diseases, some of which had not yet been included in the prevailing list of NTDs.

Now, as World NTD Day draws near, what better occasion than this to reflect on the 10 years of leadership WIPO Re:Search has shown as a global public-private partnership, contributing and paving the way forward in broader international efforts to combat NTDs. To date, WIPO Re:Search has facilitated the establishment of 100 early-stage research and development projects to address neglected tropical diseases, as well as a further 70 collaborations targeting malaria and tuberculosis.

WIPO Re:Search leading the shifting winds of change for NTDs

It is worth mentioning that in 2011, WIPO Re:Search was among the first global initiatives to raise the profile of NTDs. This is because the Consortium’s commitment to work in this space came at a time when NTDs had not yet been recognized as a priority in the global development agenda. The Millennium Development Goals, which guided the global health agenda for the period 2000 to 2015, had as key health goals the reduction of child mortality, improvement of maternal health and combatting HIV/AIDS, malaria and “other diseases.”

In that context, WIPO Re:Search’s intentional focus on NTDs constituted a pioneering commitment. Global awareness about NTDs had a pivotal spike one year later, when governments and partners signed the London Declaration. NTDs were mainstreamed into the global health agenda in 2015, when they were included in target 3.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

With progress comes responsibility

Owing to the sustained efforts of affected populations, governments and global health actors, significant progress has been made in the fight against NTDs. Among other indicators, from 2010 to 2020, the number of people at risk of disease or disability from NTDs decreased by 500 million. However, at least 1.76 billion people still require interventions against NTDs.

Technological innovations in the fight against NTDs have formed part of the progress achieved during the past 10 years. These innovations include new treatment approaches, new diagnostics and novel tools for vector control.

Progress made by numerous countries towards the elimination of NTDs such as dracunculiasis, trachoma, lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis means that strategies must be adapted to a new scenario of fewer cases and smaller at-risk-populations. Innovation in NTDs is even less profitable in an elimination phase, at precisely the same time that more innovation is needed, for example, to create high-sensitivity and high-specificity diagnostics.

Ten years on, ending NTDs continues to require coordinated action at a global scale. The new road map for neglected tropical diseases 2021 – 2030, approved by WHO in 2020, provides guidance on how various partners can contribute towards this common goal.

If we are to make sustainable progress towards addressing, and in some cases, eliminating, NTDs once and for all, it is incumbent on the global community to ignite a sense of urgency, empathy and fortitude to address not just the diseases themselves, but also the underlying factors that allow NTDs to prevail in specific settings.