The funding of innovations, both medical and scientific, for diseases that disproportionately affect the developing world remains inadequate. From its inception in 2003, DNDi has advocated for increased resources for R&D for neglected diseases and for new and sustainable mechanisms to support this R&D.

In 2010, Paul Wilson published a study about financing R&D for neglected diseases. The study focused substantially, but not exclusively, on mechanisms that could strengthen the Product Development Partnership (PDP) model, either by directly funding PDPs, by filling gaps in the R&D spectrum that PDPs are not well suited to fill, or by creating stronger incentives for private and public sector firms to collaborate with PDPs. DNDi’s analysis naturally focused on mechanisms that might support the development of new treatments for the “most neglected” diseases that are its primary focus, but many of the main conclusions apply to other diseases and product types.