Transcript Introductory Presentation, University of British Columbia, 2009

Andrew Gray
March 10, 2009
www.ubc-uaem.org
Poverty

Basic nutrition and clean water

Shelter
Education

 Basic medical care (public health)
 Lack of access to health care workers
 Lack of access to health care tools
Poverty

Basic nutrition and clean water

Shelter
Education

 Basic medical care (public health)
 Lack of access to health care workers
 Lack of access to health care tools
 Fundamental
to basic care
 WHO lists 312 essential medicines
 33%
*Cough*
of the world has no access
 Billions
of people around the world don’t
have access to the medicines they need in
order to survive and thrive.
 Why?
The
systematic inability of individuals
in developing countries to obtain
existing and essential medicines
 Mostly
tropical infections
 Primarily
affect the poor
 The
top 13 tropical infections currently
infect 1 billion people world wide
 The
research gap: for many of these
diseases, safe, effective treatments do not
exist
 The
#1 cause of death of children under 5
in Africa
 Current treatments:


Resistance problems for all drugs except
artemisinin
Frequent shortages of artemisinin
 Reduced
African GNP by 1.3% from 1965
to 1990, for a total reduction of 50%. 1
1Gallup,
J. and Sachs, J. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene,
2001; 64 (1, 2) S., p.90
 ~50,000
deaths worldwide / year.
 Main treatments require
hospitalization for several weeks



Serious adverse side effects, IV
administration
Better treatments available, but
expensive
Lack of effective diagnostics:
testing is complicated and requires
highly experienced staff.
Enlarged spleen & liver in VL patient.
The “big three”:
 HIV/AIDS
 Malaria
 Tuberculosis
“Most neglected”
diseases:






African sleeping
sickness
Dengue fever
Leishmaniasis
Schistosomiais
Chagas disease
Leprosy & many others
The research gap
14%
12%
10%
8%
6%
4%
2%
0%
Cardiovascular
Cancer
HIV/AIDS
Relative contribution to global
disease burden (DALYs)
Tuberculosis
Malaria
Tropical diseases
Proportion of new drugs,
1975-1999
Trouiller et al., Lancet 2002, 359:2188-94
Identify promising leads
Formulate as a pill (e.g.)
Assess safety and
effectiveness
Register
Mass-produce
2

University research is vital to the
development of new medicines.

15 of the 21 most important drugs
introduced in the US between 1965 and
1992 were developed using knowledge
and techniques from federally funded
research. 2
The benefits of medical research and the role of the NIH. United States Joint
Economic Committee, 2000.
Researchers develop new technologies
Universities patent these technologies
Patent rights are licensed to industry
Industry assesses safety and efficacy
 Antiretroviral
treat HIV
 Discovered
used to
at Yale
 Licensed
to Bristol-Myers
Squibb (BMS)
 BMS
trade name: Zerit

Price in 2001: $10,349

Price in 2001: $10,349

Price in 2008: $87
(generic production)
Goals:

Access to essential
medicines

Neglected disease
research


Adopted in 2007
UBC is committed to:
1. Ensuring the world’s poor get
fair access to its technologies
2. Seeking partnerships to provide
funding for ND research areas
3. Developing new technologies to
benefit the developing world.

2007: UBC establishes first GAL module in
Canada

Dr. Kishor Wasan’s lab develops a novel
formulation of the drug Amphotericin B
(Amp B)

Amp B is efficacious in treatment of blood
borne fungal infections as well as VL

Why? - Intravenous injection
requiring up to 30 days in hospital
- Expensive, loss of income during
treatment, low availability

Solution: Amp B that can be orally
administered
- Easily transported and
administered, less expensive,
accessible even in remote regions
with minimal medical facilities.
 iCo
Therapeutics will commercialize oral
formulation
 iCo
has global rights to make/sell drug in
developed world as a treatment for blood-borne
fungal infections
 Will
ensure availability of drug to developing
countries to treat VL through subsidized pricing.
 UBC’s
University-Industry Liaison Office and the
UBC Chapter of Universities Allied for Essential
Medicines worked to formalize agreement.
Developing global access strategies at
other universities

Funding for Neglected Disease research
at UBC and elsewhere

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
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