Today, the non-profit organization Bio Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) launched an interactive resource that can be used as a “one stop shop” for companies and researchers to quickly identify unmet treatment needs in the area of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

“We know the need is great, but the ability to pay for these products by the poor is severely limited,” said BVGH chief executive Melinda Moree in an online webinar yesterday. “We have to find ways to attract industry in, in ways that make sense for them.”

The new web portal is an online version of the organization’s Global Health Primer, which was introduced in 2007. It currently contains information on 15 NTDs, including cholera, malaria and tuberculosis. The database also lists the latest drug therapies in the pipeline and vaccine technologies currently being developed for these illnesses.

Now searchable by drug targets, the online primer allows company executives to quickly identify additional indications for drugs in their portfolio. Meanwhile, a section of the website organized by NTDs enables philanthropists and non-profit groups to to identify unmet treatment needs to make the most of their funding dollars.

To read more about the challenges towards combating NTDs in the developing world, read our story in the December issue.