One billion people suffer from preventable, treatable diseases around the world
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Global Health Progress Joins WHO and DNDi to Call For Increased Commitments to Fighting Neglected Tropical Diseases

The worldwide pharmaceutical industry is joining the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) in calling on the G-8 nations the importance of neglected diseases as a global health threat and a major strain on the economic viability and educational development of communities worldwide. 

The newly formed Alliance urged G-8 to finance successful treatment and prevention programs, to support innovative strategies that address the challenging health gaps in developing countries, and to fund research and development to develop improved diagnostic, treatment and prevention options.

Most international attention is focused on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and global health security. However, neglected tropical diseases - most of which are preventable and treatable - remain major causes of death and disability worldwide. These diseases receive less funding and less attention while they decrease productivity, negatively affect quality of life and increase poverty throughout the developing world.

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India's Hepatitis B Virus Drug Market Will Grow Ten-Fold by 2012
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Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms focusing on pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, forecasts that the Indian hepatitis B virus drug market will grow ten-fold by 2012, from $1.7 million in 2007 to $17 million in 2012. According to the new Emerging Markets report entitled Hepatitis B Virus in India, this growth will be fueled by a growing awareness of the hepatitis B virus and the growth of individual wealth among India's urban middle and upper class.
Additionally, the report finds that the number of prevalent cases of chronic hepatitis B virus in India (30.6 million in 2007) is three times that of the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom and Japan combined. However, both diagnosis rates and drug treatment rates in India are extremely low.

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China's Hepatitis B Virus Drug Market Will Grow to $800 Million by 2012
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Decision Resources also finds that the Chinese hepatitis B virus drug market will more than double by 2012, from $340 million in 2007 to $800 million in 2012. Both nucleoside/nucleotide analogues (NAs) and immunomodulators will experience strong double-digit growth, contributing to a robust 18 percent annual growth of the total market.

According to the new Emerging Markets report entitled Hepatitis B Virus in China, the greatest contributor to the growth of the Chinese hepatitis B drug market is the sheer size and nature of the epidemic in China- approximately 80 million Chinese people have chronic hepatitis B. Because treatment with nucleoside/nucleotide analogues is typically long-term (in many cases, lifelong), even steady diagnosis and drug-treatment rates would generate sizable near-term growth in this market. Government-sponsored improvements to the healthcare system and increasing economic prosperity among the Chinese population have also added to this market growth.

Ryan Baidya

California Takshila University