Geneva, 12/10/2003 - The International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations (IFPMA) is launching a new publication entitled “Neglected Diseases and the Pharmaceutical Industry”.

The issue of neglected diseases has recently been in the focus of numerous organisations and institutions active in public health. IFPMA, representing the research-based pharmaceutical industry – an important stakeholder in public health, is releasing a new brochure entitled “Neglected Diseases and the Pharmaceutical Industry” to provide its contribution to this lively debate.

Current debates tend to describe as neglected quite an important number of diseases prevalent in developing countries. A great majority of these diseases however, can be effectively prevented and treated with existing medicines and vaccines, and the ongoing R&D efforts within the pharmaceutical industry offer hope for even better drugs in the future. Thus, it seems that “neglected diseases” need more precise definition.

The pharmaceutical industry has a long-standing tradition of involvement in initiatives targeting health problems of the worlds’ poorest populations. Various companies, in collaboration with partners from international organisations, national governments, and local communities, have established comprehensive programmes of prevention and control of diseases prevalent exclusively in developing countries.

Donating life-saving medicines and organising comprehensive systems of disease control in resource-poor settings, the pharmaceutical industry contributes to health improvements among poor populations, and actually leads to eradication of many otherwise “neglected” diseases.

This new IFPMA brochure is an attempt to contribute to the debate over neglected diseases by both defining the diseases in question more narrowly and presenting different roles the pharmaceutical companies play in finding viable solutions to this complex health problem.

For further information please contact: Mr. Maciej Gajewski, Research Analyst, E-mail: m.gajewski@ifpma.org. Tel: +41 22 338 32 09.