Impact of non-profit organizations on drug discovery: opportunities, gaps, solutions

Non-profit organizations (NPO) play an increasingly important role in drug discovery and development for diseases that are neglected by the pharmaceutical industry because of low or absent commercial incentives. Governments and major private foundations such as the Wellcome Trust and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation increasingly step in to provide strategic direction, communication platforms and major resources, motivated by the fact that major healthcare problems remain unsolved. Drug discovery in the field of neglected diseases is fraught with complexities since, in many cases, important tools are lacking including readily available diagnostics, molecular epidemiology, appropriate model systems, representative strain collections, biomarkers, up-to-date trial methodologies and regulatory strategies. On top of this, the high hurdles addressing novel drug targets must be cleared.