by Jeffrey Moe, PhD
Adjunct Associate Professor
Senior Director, Business Development
Duke University Health Sector Management
In 2002 Henry Grabowski, David Ridley, and I were awarded a grant to consider the dilemma of “neglected diseases.” These are tropical and infectious diseases (e.g. African trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Dengue fever) which bring death, disability and significant hardship to millions of patients in developing countries. They are “neglected” due to the limited financial incentive for companies to invest in discovering and testing new treatments: the patients and their governments have very little ability to pay for new medicines.