- Since the appearance of Covid-19, there has been a noticeable decrease in investment against other diseases.
- During 2020 alone, more than 9 billion dollars were spent on the research and development of vaccines against Covid-19.
- In contrast, for hepatitis B, barely 18 million in funds were allocated, despite causing 900,000 deaths annually.
The pharmaceutical industry has always been relevant but in recent years it has been seen more clearly. The development of new medical treatments It has been essential to obtain alternatives against diseases against Covid-19. At the same time, it is also a sector that requires large amounts of money to meet its objectives.
This is due to the strict process that must be followed to specify any new drug. In fact, only a minimum percentage of new molecules that are started manage to reach the last stage.
Similarly, strict review measures must be followed to verify that drugs actually work for what they were created. It should also be checked that they do not generate side effects or cause more harm than good.
The disease that grabs attention
Now, something to keep in mind when developing new medical treatments is that there is a wide variety of diseases. Although now the drawback is that for the last two years most of the attention has been focused on Covid-19. As a consequence, attention to other pathologies has been neglected.
In this sense, during 2020 alone, more than nine billion dollars were allocated to the research and development of vaccines against Covid-19. With this, it is the largest injection of cash ever raised for a disease in such a short time.
Thanks to this large amount of money, an immunization was achieved in such a short time. In addition, millions of doses have been developed for immediate distribution throughout the world.
All the diseases that have been relegated
The negative aspects come when analyzing other infections that already existed before and which are responsible for millions of deaths each year. In fact, to date the three “great killers” are HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
According to an investigation by Policy Cures, malaria was responsible for 627 thousand deaths worldwide in 2020, which represents an increase of 12% over the previous year. While that is only a fraction of the 3.3 million people who have died from Covid-19, the funding was comparatively low. In fact, barely 619 million were allocated in contrast to the nine billion against Covid-19.
And when you look at other infections like hepatitis B, it’s even worse. Barely 18 million in funds were allocated, despite causing 900 thousand deaths.
The best way to understand this disparity in investment in new medical treatments can be seen in the following graph made with Statistical information.
On the other hand, to combat the malaria the annual investment was 619 million dollars. The figure is quite low when taking into account that it causes 627 thousand deaths each year.
Instead, the tuberculosis which each year is responsible for 1.5 million deaths received a total investment of 684 million dollars to design new medical treatments.