It’s NIGH Time

Last week, the Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC), a Gates Foundation-funded “advocacy” organization based in Washington, DC, added to the pile of reports on the US government global health policy by releasing “Saving Lives and Creating Impact” (GHTC report).  The GHTC represents a group of 40 nonprofit organizations “working to increase awareness of the urgent [...]

A Day Late and a Dollar Short

Thanks to the FierceBiotech newsletter, I learned yesterday that the director of the NIH, Francis Collins, is lobbying Congress for a $500 million fund that would support clinical trials of drugs for neglected diseases being developed by start-up biotech companies, up to $15 million per company (FierceBiotech article).  The writer cites an interview by Bloomberg [...]

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 [...]

The SBIR Drop in the Bucket

The capital to start or grow a company developing products for global health may come from several sources which are, in order of rapidly decreasing likelihood:  the founder’s pocket, foundations and their pass-through surrogates, the federal government, venture capital firms, and angel investors.  One would think that federal government policies would favor direct aid to [...]