Briefing 8 - OECD High Level Forum Strengthening policies to improve availability of medicines for neglected and emerging infectious diseases

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The High-Level Forum on Medicines for Neglected and Emerging Infectious Diseases1 brought together over 200 participants, mostly from OECD countries and some from developing countries. It included representatives from government, industry, donor agencies, academia, philanthropic foundations, international agencies and non-governmental organisations. Expert groups met in two preparatory workshops – “Accelerating Neglected Diseases Drug Discovery” and “Policy Options and Policy Coherence to Enhance the Availability of Medicines for Neglected and Emerging Infectious Diseases” - in Paris2in May to explore scientific opportunities and policy options. This provided the basis for the High Level Forum discussions and the Noordwijk Agenda. The preparatory process included members of other initiatives on neglected diseases3.The purpose of the Noordwijk meeting was to reflect on the policies, incentives and partnerships needed to foster innovation and scale-up research on neglected and emerging infectious diseases that disproportionately affect developing countries.