To achieve several of the Millenium Development Goals (4,5,6,8), significant improvement must be made in innovation and access to affordable medicines, particularly in developing countries. New and existing treatments remain unavailable and unaffordable to those who need them. But while solutions are urgently needed, evidence shows that progress to achieve the health-related MDGs has been slow (MDG Gap Task Force Report 2010, WHO Report EB128/7). This research project will examine existing and new ideas for global partnerships as agreed under the MDG 8 to address the problems of lack of access and innovation for medicines on a sustainable, priority needs' basis. In particular, our research questions deal with the economics of product development partnerships (PDPs) for neglected diseases in order to better understand whether these partnerships may be an efficient mechanism in research and development on neglected diseases and how policy at the international level might support and enhance the formation and sustainability of PDPs institutionally.