The PLoS Medicine editorial this month argues that there are currently few incentives to develop new treatments for maternal health, and that political will is needed to support alternative approaches to those driven by the market. The editorial cites an analysis published earlier this year in PLoS Medicine, which found that between 1980 and 2007 only 17 new drugs were under active development for maternal health indications—less than 3% of the pipeline in cardiovascular health (Fisk et al., e22).
The "Catch 22" of the lack of effective treatments for tropical diseases in pregnancy is examined in an essay in this issue (White et al., e133). Risk aversion, among other factors, has led to the exclusion of pregnant women from clinical trials. As such, the authors argue, we don't know enough about the suitability for pregnant women of even well-established drugs.
Image Credit: Image by Valarie Apperson at Flickr.com
Editorial
Drug Development for Maternal Health Cannot Be Left to the Whims of the Market
PLOS Medicine: published June 24, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050140
Related Articles
Essays
New Medicines for Tropical Diseases in Pregnancy: Catch-22
PLOS Medicine: published June 17, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050133
Related Articles
Ethical Implications of Modifying Lethal Injection Protocols
PLOS Medicine: published June 10, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050126
Neglected Diseases
The “Other” Neglected Diseases in Global Public Health: Surgical Conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa
PLOS Medicine: published June 3, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050121
Related Articles
Perspectives
Subnational Burden of Disease Studies: Mexico Leads the Way
PLOS Medicine: published June 17, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050138
Related Articles
How Might Cocaine Interfere with Brain Development?
PLOS Medicine: published June 10, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050130
Related Articles
Health in Action
Adapting the DOTS Framework for Tuberculosis Control to the Management of Non-Communicable Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa
PLOS Medicine: published June 10, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050124
Policy Forum
Coverage of Cervical Cancer Screening in 57 Countries: Low Average Levels and Large Inequalities
PLOS Medicine: published June 17, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050132
Guidelines and Guidance
Guidelines for Reporting Health Research: The EQUATOR Network's Survey of Guideline Authors
PLOS Medicine: published June 24, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050139
Research in Translation
Severe Vivax Malaria: Newly Recognised or Rediscovered?
PLOS Medicine: published June 17, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050136
Related Articles
Melanoma: What Are the Gaps in Our Knowledge?
PLOS Medicine: published June 3, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050122
Related Articles
Research Articles
Plasmodium vivax and Mixed Infections Are Associated with Severe Malaria in Children: A Prospective Cohort Study from Papua New Guinea
PLOS Medicine: published June 17, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050127
Related Articles
Multidrug-Resistant Plasmodium vivax Associated with Severe and Fatal Malaria: A Prospective Study in Papua, Indonesia
PLOS Medicine: published June 17, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050128
Related Articles
Characterizing the Epidemiological Transition in Mexico: National and Subnational Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors
PLOS Medicine: published June 17, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050125
Related Articles
The Safety of Adult Male Circumcision in HIV-Infected and Uninfected Men in Rakai, Uganda
PLOS Medicine: published June 3, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050116
Effect of a Brief Video Intervention on Incident Infection among Patients Attending Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinics
PLOS Medicine: published June 24, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050135
How Well Do Clinical Pain Assessment Tools Reflect Pain in Infants?
PLOS Medicine: published June 24, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050129
Gene-Environment Interaction in the Onset of Eczema in Infancy: Filaggrin Loss-of-Function Mutations Enhanced by Neonatal Cat Exposure
PLOS Medicine: published June 24, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050131
Improving Melanoma Classification by Integrating Genetic and Morphologic Features
PLOS Medicine: published June 3, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050120
Related Articles
A Mouse to Human Search for Plasma Proteome Changes Associated with Pancreatic Tumor Development
PLOS Medicine: published June 10, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050123
The Reno-Vascular A2B Adenosine Receptor Protects the Kidney from Ischemia
PLOS Medicine: published June 24, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050137
A Mechanism for the Inhibition of Neural Progenitor Cell Proliferation by Cocaine
PLOS Medicine: published June 10, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050117
Related Articles
Correction
Correction: Resisting Immune Exhaustion in HIV-1 Infection
PLOS Medicine: published June 3, 2008 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0050134