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US Government launches new initiatives to spur innovation for global development

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PATH/Patrick McKern

Ashley Bennett, senior policy associate at the GHTC, writes about the new programs announced at a White House event on Wednesday to promote innovation in global development.

February 9, 2012 by Ashley Bennett

Ashley Bennett, senior policy associate at the GHTC, writes about the new programs announced at a White House event on Wednesday to promote innovation in global development.

Earlier this week, senior Obama Administration officials announced several exciting new programs to support and highlight the power of innovation in global development, including global health research and development (R&D) for new products.

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Rajiv Shah announced a partnership, entitled the Higher Education Solutions Network, designed to promote new solutions to global development obstacles. The partnership will create hubs for innovation at US colleges and universities to “create and leverage a virtual network of leading experts who will help USAID solve distinct global development challenges” through ramped up engagement with students and faculty.

Next, Dr. David Kappos, director of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), unveiled the Patents for Humanity pilot prize competition through Challenge.gov. Patent applicants whose product benefits “humanitarian needs”—including medical technologies—will be eligible to win a certificate good for expedited patent review for an additional product that they would like to submit. The program operates in a fashion somewhat similar to the Priority Review Voucher program at the Food and Drug Administration. An important distinction, though, is that for the USPTO pilot program, the certificates are non-transferrable. This program should help private businesses pursue product R&D for areas of need that they may not necessarily find commercially attractive, which may have applications for global health diseases that predominantly affect populations in developing countries.

“By harnessing the power of science and technology with research and development, Patents for Humanity plays a key role in advancing President Obama’s global development agenda. By collaborating with parts of the world in ways unimaginable just a few years ago, and by unleashing broader prosperity in emerging economies, this important new USPTO initiative demonstrates that the power to innovate is the power to lead, by design, and by solution,” Kappos wrote in a blot post about the program.

Finally, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched a new model licensing agreement to accelerate licenses for nonprofit organizations that are engaged in neglected tropical disease (NTD) product development to use certain inventions and compounds from NIH and the FDA laboratories. The scope of the program includes vaccines, drugs, therapeutics, and diagnostics for NTDs as defined by the World Health Organization. The wealth of technology available from these sources has the potential to drastically impact global health product development by expanding the material resources scientists need for their studies. During the launch event, the story of MenAfriVac™, a product developed by GHTC member PATH, was used to demonstrate the power technology transfer has on research for neglected diseases.

“We‘d like to see more of those transactions occur and more non-profits take up our technologies to bring them to the people that most need them in low-income areas of the world,” said Mark Rohrbaugh, director of the NIH Office of Technology Transfer.

In addition to these initiatives for global health research and development, new programs for mobile technology, clean energy, and hybrid seed production were also announced. All of these new programs align with the Administrations overall global development policy, including President Obama’s Presidential Policy Directive (PPD) for development, as well as with the innovation theme outlined in the recent State of the Union address. “A core part of my global development strategy is harnessing the creativity and innovation of all sectors of our society to make progress that none of us can achieve alone,” President Obama said.

President Obama is right. Using the power of innovation from all partners—from the US agencies to academic institutions, not-for-profit groups, and the private sector—can have significant impacts on longstanding global health and development challenges. It’s critical that US policymakers continue this spirit of innovation.

You can find more information on this White House fact sheet and also on the Science Speaks blog.

About the author

Ashley BennettGHTC

Ashley Bennett is a Policy and Advocacy Officer at GHTC.

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February 15, 2012

Obama’s FY 2013 budget request raises concerns for global health R&D

Written by Ashley Bennett / GHTC
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On Monday, President Obama released his Administration’s much-anticipated FY 2013 budget request to mixed reviews. In his introduction to the overall budget request, Obama emphasized that research and development (R&D) programs are essential to the US economy and the country’s future. He even highlighted the work of the National Institutes for Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in this area. When looking at the budget numbers for global health, Obama’s emphasis on R&D in his introduction played out in various ways, with some good and bad news. Overall, the President’s request was in line with the rumors that preceded its release. Global health numbers faced nearly across-the-board decreases when compared with FY 2012 levels, although the broader State and Foreign Operations account did receive an increase. Under the State and Foreign Operations account: The Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and the GAVI Alliance received major increases. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) saw funding cuts. Most global health line items in the budget for the US Agency for International Development (USAID)—aside from family planning and reproductive health—received reductions in funding, some by as much as 25 percent. These funding cuts could drastically affect USAID’s ability to support global health R&D projects. Global health R&D funding under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) account saw additional inconsistent results, with some good and bad news. The FDA received an $11 million increase. However, this increase relies on the collection of user fees, which has some constraints. Overall NIH funding remained at FY 2012 levels, with essential programs at National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Fogarty International Center receiving small, but welcome, increases. The Office of AIDS Research stayed the same as last year, as did the new National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS). More flat-funding was seen at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). HIV and AIDS and polio stayed essentially the same as FY 2012, with malaria receiving a small increase. Otherwise, global health programs at CDC were requested at last year’s levels. Further drastic cuts at crucial Department of Defense research programs on malaria, HIV and AIDS, and neglected diseases add to the concerning budget slashing. It is important to note that the President’s Budget Request is not the last word on global health R&D funding. Congress has the authority to change the funding levels as it sees fit. However, it could be difficult to justify spending above what the Administration views as appropriate, especially given the current fiscal crisis and the shortened election-year appropriations process. Although some of the proposed reductions may appear to be minor, given the larger picture of the federal budget, they will certainly have serious effects on R&D projects—both for those now on the cusp of groundbreaking results, and for those in the future. The Administration has tried to soften the blow of these budget reductions by pointing out that cost-savings can be found in global health scientific advances like newer HIV drugs, inexpensive diagnostics, and streamlined vaccine delivery devices. It’s absolutely true that these new tools can save dollars while they save lives. The question is, if we cut US global health R&D funding now, will we have these urgently-needed advances to rely on five or ten years down the road? More information on the President’s budget request can be found at the following links: Kaiser Family Foundation Budget Tracker White House Office of Management and Budget Website and blog post
Evelyn Hockstein/PATH
February 8, 2012

Patents for Humanity

Written by David Kappos / US Patent and Trademark Office
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David Kappos is the Director of the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). On Wednesday, USPTO announced the Patents for Humanity pilot program, which rewards patent owners for using their patented technology to address humanitarian needs, including global health and medical technologies. The program was announced at a White House event on innovation for international development. This post originally appeared on the USPTO blog. Sweeping revolutions in technology continue to fundamentally redefine the way we connect with one another and interact with the world. Today, an entrepreneur can do business with a remote village across an ocean just as quickly as a student in Boston can video-conference with a professor in Beijing. Political rallies can be organized by the click of a button, while gripping images of that rally can be shared across continents with a single tweet. And while an ever-shrinking and increasingly interconnected world allows technologies and information to spread in unprecedented ways, it also reminds us of the unique challenges we face as a planet. That’s why the United States Patent and Trademark Office, during a global development event today at the White House, announced the Patents for Humanity pilot program. Because while 21st century challenges are global in scope, so too are their solutions. By building smarter irrigation systems in towns plagued by drought, by delivering cost-effective medicinal vaccines to communities without hospitals, and by engineering weather-resistant crop strains to farms ravaged by natural disasters, patented inventions have the power to create lasting solutions for some of the most serious issues confronting the world’s poorest and underserved regions. By offering strong incentives for businesses of all sizes to engage in these humanitarian efforts, Patents for Humanity encourages up to 1,000 applicants to demonstrate how their patented, or patent-pending technologies, are advancing research and results in four categories: Medical Technology, Food and Nutrition, Clean Technology, and Information Technology. USPTO is launching Patents for Humanity, a program to advance research and results that will address global challenges Photo: Evelyn Hockstein/PATH Judges selected from academia for their expertise in these fields will review applications and recommend winners, and up to 50 awardees will receive certificates for accelerated patent processing at the USPTO—a powerful tool for helping businesses validate their technology and resolve investment decisions more quickly. Not only will the faster processing help technologists move solutions to the marketplace faster; it will also demonstrate that humanitarian endeavors and smart economic growth can work hand in hand. By harnessing the power of science and technology with research and development, Patents for Humanity plays a key role in advancing President Obama’s global development agenda. By collaborating with parts of the world in ways unimaginable just a few years ago, and by unleashing broader prosperity in emerging economies, this important new USPTO initiative demonstrates that the power to innovate is the power to lead, by design and by solution.