A GPG perspective would argue that provision of adequate R&D related to diseases of the poor requires innovative collective action. This no-more-business-as-usual attitude has clearly motivated the explosion in the number of Global Public-Private-Partnerships (GPPPs) undertaking R&D related to diseases of the poor [15] [16] [17] . An order-of-magnitude estimate of GPPPs' annual spending might be US$1 billion [18] . This may be compared with total global health R&D spending on the order of US$100 billion [14] . This sounds small, but when the US$1 billion is compared to the estimated US$2.5 billion spent on health R&D by governments in low-and middleincome countries, the perspective is much more favourable for the important role played by GPPPs. In the area of R&D related to "neglected diseases" of the tropics, GPPPs occupy a decisive position.