Presentation by Tim Nguyen, Unit Leader, Evidence and Information for Policy-Making, Division of Information, Evidence, Research and Innovation, WHO Regional Office for Europe.

1. Presentation to the The Nordic Council of Ministers
WHO Global
Observatory on Health
Research &
Development (R&D)
Tim Nguyen
Unit leader
Evidence and Information for Policy-Making
Division of Information, Evidence, Research and Innovation
tng@euro.who.int

2. 2 |
Approaches to supporting R&D – where no market
incentives
Funding mechanisms – how to fund the risk of R&D
Pooling resources
Strengthening research and development capacity
and technology transfer
Coordination
Implementation through a binding global instrument
for R&D and innovation for health
Main Recommendations of the CEWG* Report
*Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination

3. 3 |
R&D Observatory for health
Improved coordination for health R&D
Financing
Demonstration projects
66th World Health Assembly resolution

4. Global Observatory on Health R&D
Regional &
Country
databases
National
Health
Accounts
(NHA)
Global Health
Observatory
(GHO)
WHO Sources
Int. Clinical Trial
Registry
(ICTRP)
Commissioned
primary data
Literature
databases
(PubMed,
etc.)
Funding
flows (G
Finder, etc)
Funders
databases
R&D
Pipeline
(Emory etc)
OECD,
UNESCO
Mega
database(s)
WHO Global R&D
Observatory Portal
Generate
ReportsDownload
Data
Analysis:
-R&D gap identification
-Priority setting
External
Sources

5. 5 |
Vision and principles
 Build on what already exists
– Regional and national health R&D observatories and databases
– Existing global databases on health R&D
 Scope: all types of health research
 Launched in phases - phase 1: early 2016
 Keep user’s needs in mind
 Keep future technological needs in mind

6. 6 |
Focus of data collection in initial phases
1. What research is being conducted:
– for what health problem/area (e.g. tuberculosis, cancer, disability)
– what type of research (e.g. epidemiological, product development)
– for what type of intervention (e.g. vaccine, drug, …) and if possible
the intervention name (product name) and the stage of
development (e.g. discovery, pre-clinical, phase I,II,III)
2. By whom: names of organizations conducting and
funding the research and if possible the type of
organization (e.g. academic, industry).
3. Where: the countries that are undertaking or funding the
research.

7. 7 |
Challenges to data collection
 Data may be available in various forms and for various
reasons, e.g. funding databases, ethics approval
databases, clinical trials registries, publications
databases.
 Often not with R&D monitoring as an objective, as a
result
– the data sources often do not include all desirable data
– data are often not collected using standardized classifications

8. 8 |
Approach to address challenges
 Aim to include and harmonize data from as many
sources as possible
– mapping various classification systems where possible
– using data mining and automated techniques to classify
uncategorized data
– actively engaging with data source owners to consider
using standard classifications
 Contribute to methods and standards development,
and capacity building to collect and use the data

9. 9 |
Development of the Observatory
 2015: Early stages of developing the platform, its
structure, functionalities, data sources, elements etc
 Early 2016: launch of Phase 1 – online portal with data
on a basic set of health R&D indicators and a limited set
of diseases.
 2016 onwards: expansion of number of data sources,
data elements, and functionalities of the Observatory.
More information on: www.who.int/research-observatory

10. 10 |
Gracias
 Acknowledgments
– Taghreed Adam, World Health Organization
– Roderik Viergever, World Health Organization
– Robert Terry, World Health Organization