Pharmaceutical firms urged to work for all mankind

HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn urged the global pharmaceutical industry on Thursday to contribute more to fight against "neglected diseases" in the developing world.

In the opening speech at the Prince Mahidol Award Conference to 300 participants from various countries, the princess said that producing innovative drugs in the research and development sector was a tough task - but making any achievements serve all of mankind was even more vital.

"It is wellknown that research and development in medical sciences is not easy to achieve as they are timeconsuming tasks and require great perseverance. More difficult and complicated still, would be how the results of such achievements are meant for the benefit of all mankind and all countries of the world," the princess said.

Improving access to essential health technologies for neglected diseases was the principle topic for Prince Mahidol Award conference this year.

HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, who is president of the Prince Mahidol Award Foundation, said the issue was selected in order to bring global attention to this important problem and to suggest actions that would improve the health of the most vulnerable populations.

Her point of concern was echoed by the director general of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Margaret Chang, who is a keynote speaker at the event.

"The human suffering [from diseases] is far greater than the 270 cases of avian influenza reported globally over the past three years," Dr Chan said.

Chan reckoned that at least one billion people - one in six people worldwide - suffer from one or more tropical diseases that have yet to grab the research and development industry's attention.

The names of the diseases were not familiar, and even Chan admitted they were difficult for her to pronounce. The diseases include onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, schistosomiasis, and blinding trachoma.

Chan pointed out that one reason these diseases lack visibility at the international level was because they were specific to geographical and environmental conditions that occur almost exclusively in impoverished rural areas where the people have been left behind by socioeconomic progress.

"These diseases have long been neglected by research and development. Industry has little incentive to develop drugs and vaccine for markets that cannot pay," she explained.

Although there was a publicprivate partnership programme to combat the diseases - and WHO had received millions of US dollars donated by the drug industry to build infrastructure in affected countries - the world had to do more in sharing responsibility to combat the diseases, she said.

The decision by pharmaceutical industry to make safe and highly effective drugs available at no cost or at greatly reduced prices would be an important force to fight diseases, Chan said.

The Prince Mahidol Award Conference is held annually. It honours outstanding individuals awarded the PMA, an international prize conferred each year on people or institutions in the fields of medicine and public health whose work contributes significantly to the benefit and wellbeing of mankind.

The 2006 award for medicine was granted to Professor Stanley Schultz, from the University of Texas, while the awardees for public health were Richard Cash of Harvard University, David Nalin of Merck & Co, and Dilip Mahalanabis, from India's Society for Applied Studies.

The three recipients worked separately on treating diarrhoea patients suffering dehydration. All the recipients received their awards from HM the King at the Grand Palace on Wednesday.

Pennapa Hongthong

The Nation
Thu, February 1, 2007