Now, small medical companies in emerging economies offer real hope to bring innovative and affordable treatments, a new study has found. 'Everyone thinks multinational drug companies can provide the vaccines and diagnostics for neglected tropical diseases. Our research shows that it's small biomedical companies in the developing world that are doing it,' said Peter Singer of the McLaughlin-Rotman Centre (MRC) for Global Health at the University of Toronto and a co-author of the study.

Singer and his colleagues document for the first time the innovative products and capabilities of 78 homegrown, small to medium-sized health biotechnology companies in Brazil, China, India and South Africa.

Collectively, these companies produced 123 products, including vaccines, drugs and diagnostic tests, for all neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), as well as the 'Big 3' - malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS.

Roughly half specifically target NTDs and are largely new products, not generics, they report in the study published Tuesday in the journal Health Affairs.

'These are diseases of the poor and these local companies base their business model on affordable innovation to meet local needs,' Singer told IPS. 'The owner of one such company told me 'What for you are diseases of the poor are market opportunities for us''.

NTDs include trachoma, the leading cause of preventable blindness worldwide, elephantiasis, leprosy, dengue fever, hookworm infection and schistosomiasis. World spending to battle such illnesses, however, amounts to a relative drop in the bucket - just 500 million dollars in 2007 ? or about five percent of the total invested in new drugs, vaccines and diagnostics worldwide.

These neglected diseases rarely make headlines, but they cripple the economic productivity of affected communities and stunt national development, the report notes. Multinational drug companies simply cannot make a profit developing products to meet this need except on a donation basis, it says.

'We are not calling for replacement of the charity of multinationals. Rather, we are pointing out that there is a well of affordable innovation in developing countries themselves that has not been fully tapped,' Singer said.

Companies in emerging economies are filling a void by creating innovative products to address NTDs. Many such firms are successful at reaching local and regional markets.