The Real Difference In The Treatment Of Neglected And Rare Diseases Cannot Be Achieved Without Governmental Interventions

In the situation when investments from pharmaceutical companies are unlikely to be motivated by solely altruistic or scientific reasons any time soon, governments are obliged to intervene to make the development of treatments and cures for neglected and rare diseases possible. Proper studies of rare diseases practically always require international coordination, which is unlikely to work well without governmental supports.

There is hope, however, for the world and the many people who are effected by rare and neglected diseases. At the present time, a lot of clinical trials aimed at better understanding and exploring treatment options for orphan diseases is being carried out across the world.

When it comes to the majority of neglected tropical diseases, proper support from governments yet remains to be seen. Most of governments in Africa, Latin America and South-East Asia simply don’t have the funds required to support such research, and must direct whatever funds they have towards the more pressing, immediate problems their citizens face. Epidemic corruption, political instability and simple inefficiency don’t help either.

Changing demographic situation forces governments to act

The situation is gradually changing, however. Due to the much higher level of human movements around the world, tropical diseases often reach the shores of Western countries these days. For instance, tuberculosis now affects roughly one third of the world population. Even though most of the infected people reside outside the borders of the Western world, the incidences of TB become more and more frequent in Europe.

In the age of global travel, it would be hard to avoid the spread of this disease without new treatment options. In addition, recently some new, so-called extremely drug-resistant, strains of TB have emerged. The gradual spread of these strains and the lack of adequate medicines represent a major concern to the Western health care authorities. TB is not an isolated case, either: many tropical diseases previously unseen in the developed countries now from time to time reach their borders. All these changes force Western governments to invest into research directed to finding the cure for neglected infections.

New sources of financial support for research are now available

The Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation is a good example. The Foundation provides grants for research aimed at the eradication and proper management of various diseases common in the Third World countries.

Serious studies in this field are being performed now in China, India and Brazil, among many other countries. For instance, artemisinin, which is currently the most effective drug against malaria, was discovered and developed by Chinese scientists.

The level of efforts, however, is still inadequate. It is clear to everyone that much more needs to be done to achieve the ultimate aim of eliminating the tropical infections.

When it comes to the rare genetic disorders, the hope of patients lies in the development of appropriate gene therapies. The progress in this field is fast, but most studies were done on animals so far. It remains to be seen if the same genetic manipulation techniques can be applied to humans.