Where Does This PATH Lead?

PATH, formerly the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, is a high-profile, global health non-profit based in Seattle and a favored recipient of Gates Foundation funding, receiving more than $1 billion from the foundation since 1998 (McCoy et al. 2009).  The organization undoubtedly has done and is doing good work, but my business reflex is [...]

PDP Performance Measurement

The good news is that there are more than a dozen product development partnerships (PDPs) working to develop products to diagnose or treat the diseases that afflict many of the world’s citizens.  Started in the 1990s and funded primarily by donor dollars (a total of about $450 M through 2007), the PDPs have been making [...]

Official US Government Global Health Program

Is there one?  One would hope so given our superpower status (at least until China cashes in the US treasuries it holds).  Obviously many government agencies, branches, and departments have some role in affecting the health of the rest (majority) of the world’s population.  Prominent are the USAID, USDA, and the departments of Defense and [...]

GSK in the Lead but Who Will Follow

GlaxoSmithKline, one of the bigger of Big Pharma, lengthened its lead in the global health business again by announcing several initiatives to address the health needs of the world’s under-served populations.  GSK, or more specifically, its CEO, Andrew Witty (visionary, iconoclastic, wrong-headed?), described them in a speech on January 20: – Patent Pool:  BIO Ventures [...]

The Gates Foundtion: For-Profits Need not Apply?

Since 1996, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has put its considerable resources to work to “ensure that life-saving health advances reach those who need them most” (Gates Global Health Overview).  But, due to the extent and range of the foundation’s giving, it has been difficult to figure out who is receiving what and why.  [...]

Is there a Bottom Line Behind the Headline?

Recently, the Welcome Trust, the British giant philanthropy, and Merck and Co., a leading member of Big Pharma, announced a “first of its kind” joint venture to advance vaccine development for diseases of the low-income countries (September 17, 2009, Merck press release).  While the venture’s objectives and funding are commendable, after a closer look for [...]

Converting Inspiration to Investment

BioVentures for Global Health (BVGH), the biotech industry-oriented advocate for global health, recently issued a substantial report, Global Health Innovators:  A Collection of Case Studies (available at BVGH Case Studies).  It is the latest volley in BVGH’s effort to engage biotech companies in applying their substantial scientific and technical resources and entrepreneurial energy to finding [...]

BioVentures for Global Health: at a Critical Juncture?

Bioventures for Global Health (BVGH, http://www.bvgh.org/default.asp) is a spin-out organization of the biotech/pharm industry powerhouse lobbying group, Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), that is well-respected for its advocacy for involving for biotech companies in addressing global health issues.  Now, more than four years after its founding, BVGH may be re-assessing its mission, structure, methods, and goals.  [...]