Accelerating R&D for Snakebites:

Building a Common Agenda for Progress

Objectives

There has been a concerted effort over the recent years to raise the profile of snakebite envenoming (SBE) and stimulate investment in R&D for this burden. SBE has been one of the only WHO NTDs to see significant increases in its R&D funding, with many other diseases experiencing a decline or plateau in recent years. Despite this positive trend, there is concern around the sustainability of funding and translating research into impact due to the lack of long-term funding commitments.
Now is the time to build on recent achievements and for the SBE community to examine structural weaknesses in the R&D ecosystem, with learnings from the wider NTD community, to accelerate progress for SBE R&D. There is an urgent need to diversify SBE funders, build clear consensus on R&D priorities, and highlight the return on investment of SBE R&D.
This event will gather SBE actors, as well as traditional NTD stakeholders, to define the future direction of the SBE R&D ecosystem and apply learnings from other NTD experiences. Building on Policy Cures Research’s SBE medicines landscape report and database, we will discuss a common approach to shape decision-making and ensure that SBE continues on its upward trajectory.