A global access framework for advancing translational research in neglected tropical diseases

Abstract

Neglected infections of poverty affict more than one-sixth of the world's most marginalized populations and reemergence in the developed world remains a viable threat. Medication toxicities, multidrug resistance, and drug pricing severely limit treatment. The United States National Institutes of Health funds 40% of neglected tropical diseases research worldwide and has taken landmark steps to address the drug innovation crisis by establishing the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). Providing an equitable access framework to health-related innovations and information may allow the Center to best accomplish its applied research goals. Establishing a global access licensing framework for all technology transfers at NCATS may lead to enhanced dissemination of the discoveries generated. Appropriate models for technology transfer would ideally encourage the acquisition of patents for research products only when necessary to promote commercialization, would utilize nonexclusive licensing agreements, create streamlined processes for materials transferred, and reserve broad rights for the use of patented and licensed technologies for future research. Lessons learned from the University of British Columbia, which effectively applied these principles to transfer a new amphotericin B formulation for treatment of visceral leishmaniasis to the private sector, could provide a framework for future licensing agreements. Prompt public access to NCATS and more broadly, NTD-related manuscripts, may facilitate information exchange and enhance R&D in rare and neglected diseases. An effective strategy may be to alter the current NIH Public Access Policy to require all investigators receiving NIH funding, including those within NCATS, to submit publically available electronic versions of manuscripts to the National Library of Medicine's PubMed Central within one month of the offcial date of publication. In conclusion, the policy frameworks proposed aim to improve access to information and technologies generated at NCATS and may be necessary to truly advance the translational sciences.