Prizes and Parasites
One subject attracting a great deal of attention this week at the IGWG meeting in Geneva is that of prizes as an alternative incentive approach for neglected disease R&D, with multiple different examples of prize proposals on the table. In following the negotiations, it has been have noted that there have been questions about the relative difficulty of various research programs discussed in the prize proposals that have been put forward. Specifically, the proposal on Chagas disease has been questioned on the grounds that it is too difficult of a problem, citing the lack of success to date. While it is indeed true that we currently lack effective treatments and vaccines for Chagas - and, in fact, for the majority of parasitic diseases - there is no a reason to think that these diseases are insoluble. We are aggressively pursuing treatment for extremely complex diseases such as Alzheimer's, and, despite the enormous amounts of money being thrown at this disease, many doubt that a cure or even an effective treatment will ever be found. Parasitic diseases, while not simple to address, should in no way be thought of in the same category of complexity as diseases such as Alzheimer's - a disease to which we devote many times the amount of resources. In fact, given the relatively tiny amount of funding put towards parasitic diseases thus far, it is somewhat amazing that we have made as much progress as we have.
