On June 28, 2006, more than one hundred stakeholders from academia, the pharmaceutical industry, public-private product development partnerships, private charities, multinational organisations, governments and non-governmental organisations came together in Brussels to discuss how to improve the delivery of new, affordable medicines against poverty-related diseases in developing countries.

At the meeting, participants agreed there is an urgent need for European governments to get more involved into research and development into new vaccines and drugs against HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases that disproportionately affect the world’s poorest.

They also concluded that there is a need for more careful planning and co-ordination between the many stakeholders in the product development chain to prevent valuable investments and efforts from being wasted on product candidates that will ultimately not reach the patients who need them.