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Issues (Archived 03/11/2008)
Neglected Disease Technologies - Licensing Opportunities Initiative
"Approximately 1 billion people - one sixth of the world's population - suffer from one or more neglected tropical diseases": a staggering statistic from the World Health Organization (WHO).
On the flip side, WHO also points out many successes in the global efforts to reduce/prevent the diseases that mainly affect impoverished and marginalized populations. Here are a few examples:
- 14.5 million people have been cured of leprosy.
- The number of people infected with guinea-worm disease has dropped from 3.5 million to just 10,000.
- More than 25 million hectares of land previously infested with black flies leading to river blindness are available for resettlement and cultivation.
- Millions of people are now protected from lymphatic filariasis.
But more must be accomplished...
In contribution to this goal of combating neglected diseases worldwide, laboratories at both the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) engage in numerous research activities related to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of these diseases.
Many of the resulting technologies are available for licensing to the private sector for further research & development and potential commercialization.
In an attempt to provide a more collaborative, consolidated, and systematic approach to the development of products for neglected diseases, the NIH Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) recently launched a new website module listing these licensing opportunities (http://www.ott.nih.gov/neglecteddiseases).
We also encourage not-for profit organizations, academic research centers, and foundations in the U.S. and abroad to submit technologies available for licensing from their institutions. Please visit http://www.ott.nih.gov/neglecteddiseases/submit to initiate this process. Parties interested in licensing will be directed to the institution owning the technology.
Reminder of special interest to the private sector: In September 2007, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 was signed into law. One of the provisions provides an incentive in the form of a transferable "priority review voucher" to companies that obtain approval for a drug or biologic targeting a neglected tropical disease (Pub. L. 110-85, title XI, ยง 1102, Sept. 27, 2007, 121 Stat. 972, 973). Please visit the FDA's website at http://www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/advance/fdaaa.html for additional information about this newly-enacted law. [Links in this paragraph were updated on 03/19/2008.]
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