Brazil’s Health Ministry reveals public-private research proposals

Brazil’s Ministry of Health (MOH) has published the entire list of the 2017 proposals to be considered for the Partnership for Product Development (PDP).

A full list of the 83 applications, which can be read here, was published earlier this month.

The PDP brings together both public institutions and private companies to develop technologies in drugs, vaccines, medical products and diagnostic products, as well as other pharma products.

Out of the 83 proposals, the majority included research relating to small molecule drugs (65), while 14 covered biologicals. Three proposals concerned medical devices and one covered blood-related products.

“The list of proposals show a substantial participation of both Brazilian-based and big pharma companies,” said a note from law firm Licks Attorneys.

All proposals remain under review until September 6.

Marco Fireman, head of the PDP programme at the MOH, said only two projects would be approved for each product and that the expertise of the institution in a particular field would be taken into consideration regarding its application.

For instance, only applications covering biological products filed by public institutions such as Tecpar, Fiocruz and Butantan will be considered, Fireman said. “This is the result of the MOH’s decision to concentrate the PDP for complex biological products,” said the Licks note.

The Brazilian government enacted ordinance 237/12, legislation behind the PDP programme, in order to better facilitate the development of the country’s pharmaceutical market.