Leaders from governments, biotechnology companies, and multi-lateral agencies from around the world will gather in Carmel Valley, CA, February 18-21 to study how best to promote development of drugs and vaccines for the world's poorest countries. This Global Health Forum: "Creating Global Markets for Orphan Drugs & Vaccines: A Challenge for Public/Private Partnership," will be sponsored by the Institute for Global Health, of the University of California, San Francisco, and UC Berkeley.
Although the forum is closed to the press and the public, its participants will publish a set of conclusions and recommendations for action. They will discuss these recommendations at a press briefing in San Francisco, Tuesday, February 22.
As the biotechnology and vaccine industries have blossomed in recent decades, they have focused predominantly on diseases affecting the world's richest countries. Diseases that plague poor countries, such as malaria and sleeping sickness, have been largely ignored, said Dr. Richard Feachem, PhD, DSc(Med), founding director of the Institute for Global Health, and a professor of international health at UCSF and UC Berkeley.
"Modern biomedical science and biotechnology are beginning to deliver fantastically powerful new drugs and new vaccines. We must find ways to bring the fruits of medical science to all people in the world who could benefit from them. If we fail, the consequences will be catastrophic," he said.
Without a more concerted effort, the epidemics developing countries are now facing will reach catastrophic proportions, Feachem said. "In a few years, malaria will be untreatable, and HIV will have caused devastation in Asia as it has already in Africa," he said. Malaria parasites are quickly becoming resistant and there are no new drugs in the development pipeline, and HIV vaccines that low income countries can afford and use are still years away, he
Several public/private partnerships targeting individual diseases in developing countries already exist, including the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, the River Blindness Control Program, and the Medicines for Malaria Venture. And, while these partnerships have made some progress, Feachem said the forum will examine how the overall problem can be addressed more effectively. "Instead of inventing a new partnership for each problem, can we take a more general approach to the problem and thereby create a more lasting solution?"
To tackle this question, Feachem has recruited an all-star cast, which includes the ministers of both India and Indonesia, executives from Merck and Co., Glaxo-Wellcome, and other biopharmaceutical companies, and senior representatives from the World Bank, World Trade Organization, and World Health Organization.
In organizing this meeting, Feachem invited not only the leaders in world health, but also many decision-makers who would not usually attend such a meeting. "Many of these people are in positions of power, but they don't necessarily spend much of their time thinking about these issues," he said.
One question that participants will debate is whether efforts should concentrate more on promoting research and development on drugs and vaccines for diseases like malaria and river blindness, or put more emphasis on strengthening the markets for these products in developing countries.
"There's a lot of uncertainty among pharmaceutical companies about what the potential market is outside the wealthy countries," Feachem said. One possible solution is for governments of developing countries to be encouraged to commit to buy a new drug or vaccine, a commitment that could be guaranteed through World Bank loans, he said.
The Global Health Forum will be the first of many to be sponsored by the Institute for Global Health. All the forums will attempt to forge policy consensus and agree on actions to address pressing global health issues. Topics for future forums include mental health, private sector response to the HIV pandemic, and the economics of HIV vaccines.
The Institute for Global Health was established in May, 1999, by UC San Francisco and UC Berkeley, in close collaboration with Stanford University, and with leading corporations and organizations in the Bay Area. The Institute conducts research, develops and evaluates policy, provides high-level training, and forges consensus on joint action among leading scientists and policy makers from all parts of the world.
Global Health Forum press briefing:
9:00 am - 10:00am
Tuesday, February 22
Institute for Global Health
5th Floor International Conference Room (Suite 508)
74 New Montgomery St.
San Francisco
The panel will feature:
- Sean Lance, President and CEO of Chiron Corporation
- Muhammad Athiollah Sohibul Hikam, Indonesia's minister of research and
technology
- Leaders from industry and global health organizations (pending confirmation)
Each panelist will discuss his or her perspective on the issues and recommendations of the forum, and answer reporters' questions. Copies of the Forum's recommendations, as well as the pre-forum briefing booklet, will be available before the briefing upon request.