Building local research and development capacity for the prevention and cure of neglected diseases: the case of India

This paper examines the proposal to build research and development (R&D) ca pabilities for dealing with neglected infectious and tropical diseases in c ountries where they are endemic, as a potentially cost- and time-effective way to fill the gap between the supply of and need for new medicines. With reference to the situation in India, we consider the competencies and incen tives needed by companies so that their strategy can be shifted from revers e engineering of existing products to investment in R&D for new products. T his requires complex reforms, of which the intellectual property rights agr eement is only one. We also consider whether Indian companies capable of co nducting research and development are likely to target neglected diseases. Patterns of patenting and of R&D, together with evidence from interviews we have conducted, suggest that Indian companies, like multinational corporat ions, are likely to target global diseases because of the prospect of much greater returns. Further studies are required on how Indian companies would respond to push and pull incentives originally designed to persuade multin ational corporations to do more R&D on neglected diseases.