As part of its historic $50 billion package for Africa, the G8 nations this year announced their support for the non-profit research and development model that characterize the TB Alliance and other public-private partnerships (PPPs) developing new and better interventions for diseases of poverty.
At their annual meeting in Scotland in July, the G8 nations recognized the important contributions made by the PPPs to fight diseases of poverty by advancing the development of new drugs and other medical interventions for tuberculosis, AIDS and malaria.
Hosted by the British government, the G8 communique stated:
“Building on the valuable G8 Global HIV/AIDS vaccine enterprise, increasing direct investment and taking forward work on market incentives, as a complement to basic research, through such mechanisms as Public Private Partnerships and Advance Purchase Commitments to encourage the development of vaccines, microbicides and drugs for AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other neglected diseases."
This endorsement echoed an earlier public statement signed by the TB Alliance, other PPPs and their partners that pointed to the significant progress made in the product pipelines since the creation of PPPs. The Medicines for Malaria Venture facilitated the collaboration that led to the statement, which called on the British government to put R&D for neglected diseases on the top of the G8 agenda.
The G8 communique also noted the work by the Stop TB partnership and supported the call for a high-level conference of Health Ministers for TB in 2006.