Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the outcomes arising from the Department for International Developments-sponsored product development partnerships.

Public private product development partnerships (PDPs) have been shown to expedite the development of new drugs, vaccines and diagnostic tests, achieving results faster than either the public or private sectors alone.

Prior to the creation of PDPs, only 20 drugs were developed for neglected diseases between 1975 and 2000. Since 2000, UK Government funded PDPs have developed 19 new products including drugs for malaria, TB, neglected tropical diseases (such as sleeping sickness and visceral leishmaniasis), one vaccine for diarrhoea (rotavirus) and six new diagnostic tests (5 for TB and the first ever rapid diagnostic test for sleeping sickness).