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Donor Funded, Capacity Building/Technology Transfer Projects for Vaccines These programs intend to build research capacity in developing countries while pursuing critical research for global health. For example, PATH has several programs that work with innovative developing country firms to accelerate vaccine development including the Pneumococcal Vaccine Project, the Rotavirus Vaccine Program and the Meningitis Vaccine Project. The International Vaccine Institute has similar projects on cholera and typhoid vaccines, and the Netherlands Vaccine Institute participates in technology transfer initiatives for Hib vaccine, seasonal flu and injectable polio vaccines. |
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Global Health Accelerator The Global Health Accelerator, a proposed mechanism to capitalize on the growing pool of innovation and local expertise in developing countries, would provide a suite of support services to biotechnology firms in emerging markets. In particular, the Accelerator would target firms undertaking research and product development for neglected disease technologies. The services would include business support services, partnering opportunities with Product Development Partnerships and Northern researchers and other forms of capacity building assistance. |
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Joint Venture R&D Laboratories in Developing Countries Some pharmaceutical companies have established joint ventures with research labs and other organizations in developing countries. For example, the MSD Wellcome Trust Hilleman Laboratories is a joint venture between MSD Laboratories India LLC and the Wellcome Trust. MSD and the Wellcome Trust have pledged up to £90 million to facilitate establishment of the Laboratories over the first seven years. The MSD Wellcome Trust Hilleman Laboratories is committed to developing high impact, affordable vaccines for people in developing countries in an innovative and sustainable manner. |
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Technology Transfer Agreements between Countries Sharing information may reduce duplicative research and encourage groups to participate in initial R&D. Provisions like the exemption for technology transfer in Article 81 of the European Commission treaty, which prohibits anti-competitive practices, encourage technology transfer between countries by licensing technology including patents and software. |
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Linking Pharma Funding to Technology Transfer One criticism of the pilot AMC for the pneumococcal vaccine is that the mechanism places no IP sharing requirements on participating companies, which many argue is a core need for further vaccine development. Some suggest requiring technology licensing for any company accessing donor funds for R&D or a direct product purchase. |
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Life Science Convergence Platforms Life science convergence platforms intend to stimulate entrepreneurship for health R&D by bringing together science, business and capital. These centers, based in developing countries or coordinated virtually, would integrate a diverse set of expertise and interests, consequently facilitating partnerships and connecting projects to technical resources and risk capital. Centers in South Africa and northern Africa like the Innovation Hub and the Tunis Science and Technology Park provide models to inform the creation of convergence centers. |
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African Network for Drug and Vaccine Innovation (ANDI) The African Network for Drug and Vaccine Innovation (ANDI) is a partnership initiated by the WHO TDR aiming to build African health R&D capacity drawing from both western expertise and the biologics of traditional medicine. ANDI attempts to unite the fragmented landscape of African R&D to strengthen and sustain product development. The partnership draws upon the existing resources in the private and public sectors in Africa in addition to investing in new research infrastructure. |
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Shared Compound Libraries A shared compound library is a database of information on specific pharmaceutical compounds or a collection of the physical compounds available publically or to a strategic set of partners. Many companies and research institutes have private libraries for their own staff; however, revealing the characteristics of various compounds may encourage research groups to search for new clinical applications for existing compounds. |
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Bio Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) Business Cases BVGH profiled successful examples of global health R&D in a series of case studies that present opportunities for greater participation of biotechnology companies in global health. The case studies reveal the progress to date for research in specific diseases and also provide market assessments of the market potential of R&D and the potential return on investment. |
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Information Sharing for R&D Portfolios Both Product Development Partnerships (PDPs) and mainstream pharmaceutical companies engage in portfolio management to spread the risk of their research investments. For example, the research portfolio of the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) was established with 21 projects at various R&D stages and includes mini-portfolios with GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Genzyme and Sanofi-Aventis. Some PDPs allow biotechnology or pharmaceutical companies to handle the pharmacology of their projects while academic collaborators lend their research and expertise. |