The aims of this study were to investigate the new models of research and development in infectious diseases that emerged after the pharmaceutical industry ceased their investments and to model how these can be used in psychiatry.

A systematic review. We searched PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Science for the keywords “infectious diseases”, “research and development” and “pharmaceutical industry”.

The searches gave a total of 248 references. Among the findings, we want to highlight the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and the WHO Research and Development Treaty (R&D Treaty). DNDi is a non-profit organization that has developed six new drugs since 2003. The development costs were €150 millions per drug, which is considerably below the costs for drug development claimed by the pharmaceutical industry. The R&D Treaty will commit member states of the WHO to fund development for neglected health needs using alternative incentives like milestone prizes, patent pools and direct grants. The treaty has not yet been agreed upon.

Though a low priority from the pharmaceutical industry, other funding models have proven able to deliver new treatments. This could also lead to more development of non-patentable treatments, e.g. psychotherapy.

The author has not supplied his/her declaration of competing interest.