What types of funding does G-FINDER include?

The scope of the G-FINDER survey is determined in consultation with an Advisory Committee made up of a broad cross-section of international experts in neglected diseases and product development. The basis of this determination is the three-stage filter outlined in Figure 1. As this filter is applied not only at the overarching disease level but also at the product level, not all product areas are included for all diseases in the G-FINDER scope, and some are included only where they meet additional conditions designed to identify products targeting low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Funding included in G-FINDER covers the spectrum from basic research to post-registration studies of new products. We break these activities down into the broad categories of ‘basic & early-stage research’, and ‘clinical development & post-registration studies’.

Basic & early-stage research includes:

• Basic research
• Discovery and pre-clinical development

Clinical development & post-registration studies includes:

• Baseline epidemiology in preparation for product trials
• Clinical development and field evaluation
• Post-registration studies of new products, including Phase IV/pharmacovigilance, and operational research for diagnostics

The purpose of G-FINDER is to track and analyse global investment in the research and development of new health technologies for neglected diseases; it is not intended to capture investment in the entire spectrum of neglected disease research. This means that significant and important investments in health systems and operational/implementation research and sociological, behavioural and epidemiological research not related to the development of new health technologies are not included in these funding totals. Similarly, funding for health programme delivery, advocacy, routine disease surveillance programmes, community education and general capacity building to address neglected diseases falls outside the scope of G-FINDER.

For a detailed breakdown of the diseases, products and activities included, see our neglected disease R&D scope.

The G-FINDER scope is reviewed annually. While the recent changes to the survey scope, such as last year’s addition of yaws and removal of giardiasis, have had limited impact on our headline measures of global funding, please take care when examining overall totals from significantly earlier in the survey’s history, since some changes may reflect the gradual expansion in our survey’s scope.

Funding data is adjusted for inflation and converted to US dollars (US$) to eliminate artefactual effects caused by inflation and exchange rate fluctuations.

All pharmaceutical industry funding data is aggregated and anonymised for confidentiality purposes, with a distinction made between multinational pharmaceutical companies (‘MNCs’) and small pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms (‘SMEs’).

For the last several years, the G-FINDER survey has been expanded to gather data on funding for R&D targeting emerging infectious diseases and women's health issues. This data and an analysis of the related R&D funding trends are not included in this G-FINDER neglected disease report, but are covered instead in our ongoing series of companion reports. However, all available neglected disease, emerging infectious disease and women's health survey data (now including 2023 figures) are available via the G-FINDER data portal.