Abstract
Enabling innovation and access to health technologies remains a key strategy in combating infectious diseases in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, a gulf between paying markets and the endemicity of such diseases has contributed to the dearth of R&D in meeting these public health needs. While the pharmaceutical industry views emerging economies as potential new markets, most of the world's poorest bottom billion now reside in middle-income countries--a fact that has complicated tiered access arrangements. However, product development partnerships--particularly those involving academic institutions and small firms--find commercial opportunities in pursuing even neglected diseases; and a growing pharmaceutical sector in BRICS countries offers hope for an indigenous base of innovation. Such innovation will be shaped by 1) access to building blocks of knowledge; 2) strategic use of intellectual property and innovative financing to meet public health goals; 3) collaborative norms of open innovation; and 4) alternative business models, some with a double bottom line. Facing such resource constraints, LMICs are poised to develop a new, more resource-effective model of innovation that holds exciting promise in meeting the needs of global health.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 2 |
Pages (from-to) | 1-9 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Infectious Diseases of Poverty |
Volume | 1 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 15 2012 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Access
- Business model
- Innovation
- Open innovation
- Open source
- Policy
- Public health
- R&D
- R&D collaboration
- Technology
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Infectious Diseases