GSK malaria vaccine could save millions of lives

The following report published in The Guardian today provides encouraging global health news — GSK’s new vaccine against malaria has been shown to halve the risk of malaria.

Malaria vaccine could save millions of children’s lives

Millions of small children’s lives could be saved by a new vaccine that has been shown to halve the risk of malaria in the first large-scale trials across seven African countries.

The long-awaited results of the largest-ever malaria vaccine study, involving 15,460 babies and small children, show that it could massively reduce the impact of the much-feared killer disease. Malaria takes nearly 800,000 lives every year – most of them children under five. It damages many more.

The vaccine has been in development for two decades – the brainchild of scientists at the UK drug company GlaxoSmithKline, which has promised to sell it at no more than a fraction over cost-price, with the excess being ploughed back into further tropical disease research.

The Economist: Patently Absurd

The Economist recently published an interesting opinion article on the impact of innovation on the economy — specifically the negative impact of patent backlogs on business (particularly small entrepreneurial business).

Patently Absurd

INNOVATION and jobs have become a modern version of motherhood and apple pie in Washington, DC. Everyone in America’s capital wants lots more of both, or so they say. So how come Congress and the White House have decided not merely to underfund a crucial cog in American’s innovation machine but actually to take away revenue it earns? And that at a time when that cog, the Patent and Trademark Office, is already struggling to keep up with the growing demands upon it? The recent budget deal for fiscal 2011 (the year to September 30th) allows the Patent Office to spend only $2.1 billion. That is less than it expects to collect in fees from applicants—$100m or so will disappear instead into Treasury coffers—and far less than it needs to do its job properly.

WIPO marks 2 millionth international patent filing

The World Intellectual Property Organization recently marked the filing of the two-millionth international patent application under WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT).

The PCT makes it easier for companies and inventors to seek patent rights in multiple countries as a single application under the PCT has legal effect in all 142 countries bound by the treaty.  The PCT system consolidates and streamlines patenting procedures, postponing the payment of sizeable costs and providing applicants with a sound basis for important decision-making.

The value of the PCT system also lies in its capacity as a global repository of technological information. Under the PCT approximately 160,000 international patent applications are filed every year.

IBM supercomputer applied to medicine

The computer that defeated humanity’s finest Jeopardy players in February isn’t stopping at game show domination. Its creators have been busy retrofitting ‘Watson’ to help doctors diagnose and treat patients. (Source:  Mashable)

IBM has partnerships with eight major universities to get medical data for Watson’s information base and to help find the best ways for physicians to use Watson.

Herbert Chase, a professor at Columbia University, has been working with IBM to turn Watson into a doctor’s assistant that can process all of the latest evidence-based medical information. The intention is not to one day replace doctors with Watson but to help them analyze data in a way that extends beyond human capabilities.

Lupus drug approved – first in last 50 years

As reported by Scientific American, the autoimmune disease lupus has confounded drug developers for more than 50 years. But a new therapy finally broke through that barrier yesterday when the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the approval of Benlysta (belimumab) for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus.

This breakthrough has been a long time coming — though not for lack of effort.  At least seven possible medicines have been turned back at the clinical trial stage in the last several years (Source:  PhRMA).

For those with Lupus, this approval is not the only good news.  Other similar drugs are in the pipeline and could be available in the near future.

WIPO to support innovation in Nigeria

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) has announced plans to strengthen Nigeria’s technology innovation centres with particular reference to the Intellectual Property and Technology Transfer Offices (IPTTOs) established by the National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) in tertiary institutions and research centres across the country.

WIPO will help strengthen existing national capacities through the creation of Technology Innovation Support Centres (TISC) – digital libraries comprising 70,000 specialized patents on-line.

These centres will be established in the universities not only to promote innovations but also to ensure that learning was linked to practical life.

According to Dr. Ituku Elangi Botoy, Project coordinator of the Innovation and Technology Support Section of WIPO, no country has developed without prioritizing science and technology and that Nigeria would not be an exception.

 

Joint venture aims to develop new rotavirus vaccine for poor

A joint venture between U.S. drugmaker Merck and Britain’s Wellcome Trust charity is working on an oral rotavirus vaccine designed to be cheaper and easier to use than current shots, as reported by Reuters.

The vaccine will aim to protect against diarrhoea-causing rotavirus infections and will be based on thin strips or granules that dissolve in the mouth and can be easily transported, stored and administered.  Currently available rotavirus shots, made by Merck & Co. and GlaxoSmithKline, need to be kept in cold storage — making their transportation and delivery complex and costly.

Diarrhoea is one of the top two killers of children under five worldwide, and rotavirus is the leading cause of severe diarrhoeal disease in children. Each year, rotavirus-related diarrhoea kills more than 500,000 children and is the cause of many millions more needing hospital treatment.

Vaccines are often the best hope for tackling many diseases in poor countries.

New malaria vaccine shows long-lasting protection

(From Reuters) An experimental malaria vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline provides African children with long-lasting protection, though its effectiveness declines slightly over time, according to recently published trial data.  Scientists conducting the mid-stage trial at the Kenya Medical Research Institute said results showing the shot offered 46 percent protection for 15 months meant it had “promise as a potential public health intervention against childhood malaria in malaria endemic countries.”

Malaria is an infectious disease spread by mosquitoes that threatens up to half the world’s population. Most of its victims are children under five in poor countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Late-stage trials of the GSK vaccine, known as RTS,S or Mosquirix, in 16,000 children in seven countries across Africa are ongoing, with immunizations due to end next month.  If data show the vaccine was effective, it could be licensed and rolled out as soon as 2015.

GSK chief executive Andrew Witty has said that if RTS,S proved effective in final-stage trials it would be sold at a price that those who need it most can afford. The company has said it was planning for a profit margin of 5 percent over the cost of making the vaccine, and that would be reinvested in new vaccines for malaria and other neglected diseases.

The Promise of American Medical Innovation

Ahead of its symposium Wednesday (Medical Innovation at the Crossroads:  Choosing the Path Ahead), the Council for American Medical Innovation released a Web video on the impact of medical innovation on American life and its potential (as reported by POLITICO Pulse).  The symposium includes U.S. Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra, former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt, former HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, PhRMA’s John Castellani and Cleveland Clinic’s Chris Coburn, among others.

PULSE caught up with Aneesh Chopra, Obama’s chief technology officer, who headlines the event, to give us a preview of his Wednesday remarks: “I’m going to make the case that this is the best time and opportunity to work on health care innovation. Between health reform and the recovery act, the conditions, I believe, are ripe for innovation and improvement.”

mPedigree awarded $200,000 in Global Security Challenge

mPedigree was recently announced as the Best Security Start-up in 2010 by the Global Security Challenge.  mPedigree from Ghana is the first system in the world which enables consumers and patients to verify the authenticity of their medicines by sending a free text message of the unique, product-embossed codes.

Across the developing world, especially in West Africa, the issue of fake and counterfeit medication has become a huge problem – the WHO estimates that in many emerging markets, up to 30% of drugs are compromised. The growing sophistication of cheap graphic software and hardware kit means that packaging, including traditional security features such as holograms, can be perfectly replicated by even smalltime counterfeit operators making the need for a highly robust but economically feasible system urgent.

While being just as robust as emerging methods such as EMID and RFID, and far more secure than holograms, the mPedigree approach is widely accessible through basic text messaging, requires no specialist equipment or training, is free to access for consumers, and a fraction of the price of holograms, and RFID and EMID techniques.

mPedigree has been awarded $200,000 sponsored by the Technical Support Working Group of the US Department of Defense and mentorship from Advent Venture Partners.