A Tale of Two Companies

In a previous post, I wrote about Medicine in Need (MEND), a Cambridge, MA-based, not-for-profit, primarily because their mission, to apply “emerging and advanced delivery and manufacturing technologies to drug and vaccine candidates for diseases of poverty,” may yield inhaleable dry powder products, a promising route for low-cost, large-scale drug and vaccine delivery.  But MEND [...]

On the Drawing Board

Last week I posted an update to progress in developing and deploying better diagnostics for tuberculosis (“TB Dx:  Getting There,” 3/1/12), but didn’t adequately cover the work aimed at the “holy grail” of TB Dx.  What is needed in the under-resourced countries are point-of-care (POC) devices to diagnose the 60-plus percent of TB patients first [...]

TB Dx: Getting There

As I have noted in past posts, the need for diagnostic tests (Dx) for tuberculosis (TB) is immense and immediate (“ReDuX,” 1/6/11, and “ReDuX Part II,” 1/13/11).  TB is a major problem in the developing world (8.8 million people are infected each year) and a growing one in the developed world with the emergence of [...]

No Kiddin’

Last week I was pleased to attend the 5th anniversary reception for the Cambridge MA-based Institute for Pediatric Innovation (IPI), a not-for-profit founded by one of my technology transfer mentors, Don Lombardi.  After a career in business and technology transfer at Children’s Hospital Boston, Don started IPI to address the lack of new technology and [...]

Eyes on the Prize

One popular idea among the global health policy wonks is that offering big cash prizes will “incentivize” companies to develop products for global health diseases, and back in March, the Gates Foundation-funded think tank, the Center for Global Health R and D Policy Assessment (CGHRDPA), part of the Results for Development Institute consulting company (R4D), [...]

A Pleasant Surprise Reprise

Vaccines for tuberculosis are an active area of research (see BVGH Vaccine Landscape for Neglected Diseases), and one vaccine I wrote about on 6/24/10 is being developed by a startup biotech in Spain, but their website has no updates: It was a surprise to me (which may be in itself not surprising) that a novel [...]

TB DD Needy

Last month the third annual Global Funding of Innovation for Neglected Diseases (“G-Finder”) report was released by Policy Cures, a grant-funded policy research operation in Sydney (G-Finder page).   Through a survey of more than 800 organizations, the G-Finder team compiles and sorts the amounts of money spent in the previous year (2009) on neglected disease [...]

ReDuX Part II

At the risk of sounding like a malfunctioning obsolete acoustical storage media, I am returning to the topic of last week’s post:  the launch of the Xpert® MTB/RIF diagnostic test which the WHO stated could “revolutionize” TB care and control (Reuters article).  WHO approved the test and issued a “Roadmap” to guide purchasers to the [...]

ReDuX

Last week I wrote about why vaccine development and new vaccines may be important in global health in the coming year, one of which is their cost-effectiveness (they prevent rather than treat).  What I did not note is that, as something that is put into people, assuring their safety and effectiveness is time- and labor-intensive [...]

Una Sorpresa Prometedora

It was a surprise to me (which may be in itself not surprising) that a novel therapeutic vaccine for tuberculosis from a small biotech company in Spain recently met a clinical milestone, from Phase I to Phase II.   Archivel Farma S.L. of Badalona (Archivel)  announced at the BIO 2010 meeting that it’s RUTI vaccine had [...]