ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the realities of the 10/90 gap and its relation to the diseases of poverty. Many scholars and activists have suggested that because there is little market for treatments for tropical infectious diseases such as leishmaniasis, lymphatic filariasis, Chagas' disease, leprosy, Guinea worm, onchocerciasis and schistosomiasis, there is a consequent lack of suitable drugs. The evidence presented here suggests that activists who cite the 10/90 gap as justification for the wholesale reform of the R&D paradigm are setting their sights on the wrong target. It is fallacious and misleading to argue that commercial R&D neglects almost entirely the diseases of the poorer parts of the world. The health problems faced by the world's poorest populations are not caused by the non-existence of drugs specifically related to their problems and diseases. The health problems faced by the world's poorest populations are not caused by the non-existence of drugs specifically related to their problems and diseases.
