Product Development Partnerships III Fund

The Product Development Partnerships III Fund (PDP III) contributes to innovation in the areas of healthcare products and technologies specifically aimed at diseases and conditions related to poverty and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

The fund focuses on the development and availability of affordable, effective medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and innovative products for neglected diseases and conditions, with a view to combating poverty and inequality.

The fund will be executed by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO.nl) for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Why PDP III?
Despite the progress made over the last decade in research and development (R&D) and innovations in global health, more than 10 million people worldwide are still dying each year from infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, malaria and other poverty-related diseases and conditions. Many countries have large-scale shortages of effective, accessible and affordable medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and other healthcare products. Additionally, women and children are still at greater risk of health problems due to unplanned pregnancies and unsafe abortions, and medicines and healthcare products are often not adapted to specific target groups such as young people and children, or to conditions in developing countries. This situation raises the mortality rate and prevents people from studying or contributing to their country’s productivity, which puts pressure on economic and development goals.
 
The target group’s lack of purchasing power and the lack of commercial incentives mean there is still insufficient investment in R&D and innovation in the areas of healthcare products and technologies specifically aimed at diseases and conditions related to poverty and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Accordingly, such products and technologies are all but non-existent, or unaffordable for the very poorest. Only a small proportion of global health research focuses on conditions that account for a large proportion of the global disease burden.

For whom?
Only Product Development Partnerships (PDPs) can apply for the fund. PDPs are  public-private partnerships set up to accelerate the development and availability of products which are unlikely to attract private investment while in development.
 
PDPs have the following characteristics.

  • They are a partnership between public and private organisations that pool knowledge and know-how in order to work efficiently and effectively on a portfolio of new and/or improved demand-driven products to combat neglected diseases and conditions.
  • They focus on the development and availability of affordable, effective medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and innovative products for neglected diseases and conditions, with a view to combating poverty and inequality.
  • They focus on developing products that would probably not be developed via standard commercial channels because of the failure of market forces (e.g. the target group’s lack of purchasing power and lack of financial incentives for private sector investment).
  • They involve diversified product portfolios.
  • They work very efficiently, on the basis of professional management principles and governance structures with low overheads.
  • They work on the basis of IPR agreements which ensure that products in development are made available as quickly as possible, and at the lowest possible price, to the people who need them most.
  • They are funded by two or more donors representing different sectors (government, private sector[1], NGOs, trusts).
  • They receive substantial in-cash or in-kind contributions from the private sector and research partners.


Budget
The available budget for the period between October 2015 to October 2020 is € 86,3 million.

Size of the grant
The minimum grant application is €1 million per year, and the maximum €4 million per year.
The activities for which a grant is sought must have a maximum duration of five years.

More information
Learn more about the conditions and procedures?
On May 22nd 2015 Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO.nl) will organise an information meeting. This meeting will be hosted by Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO.nl), Prinses Beatrixlaan 2 in The Hague from 15:00hrs to 17:00hrs. You can register for this meeting through PDP@rvo.nl. The report of this meeting will be published on this website.

Additional questions can be sent by e-mail to PDP@rvo.nl until June 10th 2015. The anonymised questions and answers will also be published on this website on a regular basis.  
Please check regularly for updates.

Application period
The call for the Product Development Partnerships III Fund (PDP III) opened on April 24th 2015 and will close on June 12th 2015 at 15:00 hours CET.

[1] These may be for-profit or non-profit (e.g. trusts) private sector organisations.

Read article in Dutch

Product Development Partnerships III Fund

‹ News overview