Improving the health of the world's poorest depends on linking basic scientific discoveries with process development, drug hits and lead optimization, and pre-clinical investigation. During the Navigating the Valley of Death panel on Monday morning, panelists agreed that it is important to come up with concrete solutions and examples of past situations to keep from making the same mistakes over and over again.
Paul Klingenstein, Managing Partner at Aberdare Ventures and Chairman of the Board at the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), said that he believes that global health partnerships should mirror the structure of how pharma licensing deals work with biotech companies. He used the example of IAVI's innovation fund, which awards small trenchants to partners as they meet certain criteria.