Innovation For All

Dateline: Havana

Havana? Yes, I’m blogging from Havana, where I am attending the Global Forum for Health Research Annual Conference. This year’s theme—“Innovating for the Health of All”—is perfectly in line with our goals at BVGH to bring capable innovators and technological know-how to global health research and development. Even more exciting, the Forum’s location in Cuba is drawing attention to Latin America at exactly the right moment.

Why does Latin America deserve all eyes and ears right now?

First, a number of diseases endemic to Latin America and the Caribbean are, at long last, gaining important publicity. The poster child example of this is Chagas disease, which was discovered in 1909 by Carlos Chagas, a medical doctor in Brazil. The disease now affects more than 8 million in Latin America and approximately 300,000 in the United States. For decades, the disease was systematically ignored by researchers and patients were offered little in the way of effective treatment. The only drugs that exist today, nifurtimox and benznidazole, both have high toxicities and long treatment times. There is no point of care diagnostic and no test of cure. However, this neglect is beginning to change. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) have embarked on an advocacy campaign around the issue. DNDi is also building a pipeline of drugs to test against the parasite that causes Chagas disease and to help identify clinical trials capacity for drug trials. BVGH is working behind the scenes to make sure that important compounds make it to the relevant players in drug development. The synergy in the global health community around the need to find new and better drugs and diagnostics for Chagas disease—and to treat those patients already affected—makes now an important time for the global health community to gather in Latin America to focus on the need for innovation.

More importantly, Latin America now has a thriving biopharmaceutical sector. Brazil’s well-known generics industry has a long history of success, and public sector research institutions, such as Fiocruz, have strong vaccine capabilities. Fiocruz is building a new translational research facility, and already has an alliance with Genzyme on Chagas disease. In addition, Brazilian President Lula has made innovation a pillar of public policy during his term as president. While Brazil has long been recognized for its growing technological capabilities, other countries in Latin America stand out as well. Mexico is among one of the top ten drug producers in the world, and remains the largest drug exporter in Latin America ($1.5 billion in exports in 2007). In both Brazil and Mexico, there is a growing interesting in innovative pharmaceuticals.

Sadly, less than USD 1 million was spent last year on research and development (R&D) for new drugs for Chagas. But there is a real opportunity here for capable innovators with compounds that could be tested for activity against Chagas to join in the movement that will only grow. These large, mid-size, or small companies could, in partnership, reduce their risks of development. An R&D incentive would also certainly help to fill up the pipeline quickly with a newer generation of drugs. The innovation process that creates novel compounds from good research ideas is still largely not found in the developing world, as was discussed in a very interesting forum held Monday by the Pan American Health Organization. The space is open for drug hunting companies and diagnostic companies to step into. Our Board chair Carl Feldbaum, our VP of Business Development David Cook, former BVGH CEO Chris Earl, and I spent a fair amount of time discussing the value that BVGH could add to solving the problem of Chagas, which causes so much suffering in Latin America. Fueled by cigar smoke (Yes—I did!) we see the opportunity. If you want to see it too—please be in touch with us.

–Melinda Moree is the interim CEO of BVGH

You can contact BVGH by emailing info@bvgh.org, or by calling 202-312-9260.