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Diving In

Posted by: BIO Ventures for Global Health on 8/27/2010 | 0 Comments
There’s been a lot of talk about the Pool for Open Innovation against Neglected Tropical Diseases, but we understand that many product developers are still wondering exactly how it will benefit them. No more! Today, we launched www.ntdpool.org, a website that explains more about the Pool, its mission, and the patents and know-how it contains.
Categories: Incentives News Partnering

The Times, They Are a Changin’ for the PRV

Posted by: BIO Ventures for Global Health on 8/6/2010 | 0 Comments
News flash: the priority review voucher may be getting easier to use, and expansions are on the docket. On Wednesday, Senator Brownback introduced a bill that includes some important amendments to the FDA’s PRV program that we believe will be instrumental in helping capable innovators create new medicines for NTDs.
Categories: Incentives News

Jumping to Conclusions

Posted by: BIO Ventures for Global Health on 7/6/2010 | 0 Comments
Have PRVs failed? Some of the recent articles about the FDA’s Office of Orphan Drug Products push for drug companies to examine existing medicines for potential benefits for rare disorders would like you to think so. Guess what? They’re wrong.
Categories: Incentives

The Ten Billion Dollar Question

Posted by: BIO Ventures for Global Health on 5/5/2010 | 0 Comments
Bill and Melinda Gates recently pledged $10 billion over the next ten years to vaccines, creating the “decade of vaccines.” The ten billion dollar question, of course, is what will the Foundation do with these funds? Read more about a session at BIO where this question was discussed.
Categories: Incentives Meetings

A Novel Conversation

Posted by: BIO Ventures for Global Health on 5/3/2010 | 0 Comments
Investors understand the demand for malaria or HIV vaccines. A company working in the field of anthrax will do well because the investor clearly sees that the U.S. government has a firm commitment to buy a vaccine. But how do you explain to investors about a market commitment for a small, specific neglected disease target?
Categories: Incentives Meetings

Trademark of Innovation

Posted by: BIO Ventures for Global Health on 5/3/2010 | 1 Comment
During the Partnering for Global Health Forum, David Kappos of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office said that the Obama Administration believes that governments can provide incentives to help eliminate neglected diseases in the developing world. Learn more...
Categories: Incentives Meetings News

Crossing the Valley of Death

Posted by: BIO Ventures for Global Health on 5/3/2010 | 0 Comments
Solutions differ for neglected diseases. But Paul Klingenstein of IAVI said during our Navigating the Valley of Death panel that he believes that global health partnerships should mirror the structure of pharma licensing deals with biotech companies.
Categories: Incentives Meetings

Meeting the Need: New Diagnostic Tests for the Developing World

Posted by: BIO Ventures for Global Health on 4/26/2010 | 0 Comments
In the United States, we have high expectations for our diagnostics. Lipid profiles, urine analysis, and HIV CD4 counts are requested stat. If a person might be anemic, iron levels are checked immediately. And if there’s the slightest chance a woman might be pregnant, she expects a home pregnancy test to confirm or deny a pregnancy pronto. Though I am making light of our impatience, accurate diagnosis can be the difference between life and death for serious conditions—which is why the lack of effective diagnostics in poor countries is such a problem.
Categories: Incentives News

Crossing the Valley of Death

Posted by: BIO Ventures for Global Health on 4/13/2010 | 1 Comment
FasterCures, a nonprofit think tank that works across sectors and diseases to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of medical research enterprises, held a Forum this past Wednesday to draw attention to a part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act – the Cures Acceleration Network – that could make a big difference for neglected diseases.
Categories: Incentives Meetings News Partnering

Sharing the Wealth

Posted by: BIO Ventures for Global Health on 2/2/2010 | 1 Comment
Intellectual property (IP) is prized in research and development. It is the only way to legally protect your ideas and investments, and it serves as an incentive that inspires innovation and promotes scientific progress—you come up with a novel, valuable idea and you earn the rights to it. The IP system was devised for products that have commercial value, which means that sometimes it doesn’t work as well for products with high social value but little or no commercial value. This has been the subject of much ideological debate but little pragmatic action.
Categories: Incentives News
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Recent Comments

by simon on The Most Important Hire in Global Health
"I'd like to comment on the fact that the term "cost-effective" vaccines is not meaningful, since cost-effectiveness always depends on the Willigness to Pay of a given coutnry (which WHO recommends to be 1-3xGDP per capita). E.g. while in UK a medicines/vaccine that has incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of 43,000-130,000 USD/QALY will be considered "cost-effective", it will not be the case in India where the threshold is 1-3xGDP=1,000-3,000 USD/QALY. It means that the same vaccine would need to be 43x cheaper in India than in UK to be cost-effective. I believe that the future of developing countries will depend on their ability to develop vaccines locally and sell them at local prices. I am currently involved in a research project in India which aims at understanding the challenges of entrepreneurship and its role in affordable healthcare in the future. Best regards " Read more »

by Mark H on Trademark of Innovation
"Often the pharmaceutical companies are seen as evil because they do not do enough to help the poor by giving away medicines or licence rights. But we must consider two things: 1 they are commecial companies and have legal obligations towards their shareholders i.e. their prime concern is making money 2 these companies invest a vastly greater amount of money in R&D than the government. As a result their R&D occasionally finds cures inadvertently for other diseases - even if they are not actively trying to create the right medicine. So how do you create an incentive for the most effective creator of new innovative cures whose primary goal is to make money (like all companies)? Well the answer seems obvious - reward them with tax benefits that would help push them above their competitors. Whilst you could argue that this would prevent the government from reaping the benefits (tax) you could also say that the competition created would drive innovation and spending in the private sector which would improve the economy. A win win win situation - pharmaceuticals, government, developing countries!" Read more »

by BIO Ventures for Global Health on Ready to Go
"Thanks so much for your interest, Trudy. We are not currently working with the Carter Center but we are interested in speaking with them to gain epidemiological information for our Global Health Primer, and so hope to be working together in the future. " Read more »

  

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