UCSF Hosts Forum to Further Triangular Partnership in Global Health
Leaders from UCSF, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, and nonprofit foundations came together recently to explore innovative collaborative approaches to reduce health disparities worldwide.
The idea was to explore new collaborative models to bridge the gap between scientific discovery and clinical application and to accelerate new therapies for those diseases that are the greatest health threat to people around the world.
The UCSF Development Office brought together representatives from each of the three segments during a pioneering product development partnerships forum on April 3 at the UCSF Mission Bay campus. The event was co-sponsored by UCSF’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Global Health Sciences, and Corporate and Foundation Relations.
“An institution like UCSF has the best research minds in the country; the pharmaceutical industry knows how to navigate drug discovery and the drug approval process; and philanthropic foundations, like the Bill & Melinda Gate Foundation, have the desire and resources,” said Sam Casillas, director of development, UCSF Corporate and Foundation Relations.
The partnerships forum symbolizes UCSF’s commitment to its mission of *advancing health worldwide™*. It is directly aligned with two of the seven priority areas from the UCSF Strategic Plan, which has been adopted as a guiding road-map by the University’s top leadership. The plan calls on UCSF to translate discoveries into improved health and to serve the local, regional and global communities to eliminate health disparities. Read the UCSF Strategic Plan [here](http://strategy.ucsf.edu/contents/ucsf-strategic-plan/).
Addressing Market Failure
Sir Richard Feachem, PhD, DSc, a professor of Global Health, UCSF Global Health Sciences, opened the forum by giving his perspective on product development. Feachem is former executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. “When we look at drugs, vaccines and diagnostics for diseases that mainly affect poorer people in poorer countries, we have a massive market failure because the normal market mechanisms of supply and demand don’t work,” Feachem said. “If we don’t intervene, we get very little research and development investment, and the right products don’t come forward to the marketplace.” What’s emerged in the last few years is a triangular partnership between foundations, academic scientists – specifically those working in university labs – and biotech and pharmaceutical companies working together to reverse the trend, Feachem noted. The emerging partnership aims to get the research and development investments flowing, which can result in bringing the much needed new products forward, he explained. “The fundamental problem is that the people suffering the most from the diseases are not only poor, but are living in a poor country,” said Feachem. “Not only can they not pay for treatment, but their health care system can’t pay for it, either. It’s going to take decades of purchasing power – for the millions of Indians that are not benefiting from the Indian economic boom – to change conditions. We can’t wait that long, and the triangle plays a key role in getting the drugs, vaccines and diagnostics to the world’s most vulnerable populations.” Kanwarjit Singh, MD, MBA, a senior program officer for policy and finance, in Global Health for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, explained how the Gates Foundation seeks to collaborate with and support those who do the work to address global health concerns. Singh lent insight into why the Gates Foundation seeks to work with UCSF and the UC system, noting the public university’s commitment to innovation. The mission of the Gates Foundation global health strategy is to “improve the health of the developing world by driving research on and accelerating access to the most effective and sustainable health interventions.” The Gates Foundation is offering grants through its new Grand Challenges Explorations program to foster innovation in global health research and expand the pipeline of ideas that merit further exploration. Charles Craik, PhD, professor of the UCSF departments of pharmaceutical chemistry, cellular and molecular pharmacology, and biochemistry and biophysics, cited specific challenges and successes in the product development cycle from an academic perspective. Current research in Craik’s lab focuses on the chemical biology of proteolytic enzymes and their natural inhibitors. The emphasis of his work is on identifying the roles and regulating the activity of proteases associated with infectious diseases, cancer and development. Rounding out the presentations were industry representatives Donald P. Francis, MD, DSc, co-founder, chairman and executive director, Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases, and George Scangos, PhD, president and chief executive officer, Exelixis, Inc. “We would like to apply our drug discovery expertise to diseases of the developing world,” said Scangos. “I believe that we have a responsibility to do so. You heard all the statistics. It’s the right thing to do. If we can address these diseases in a way that also is responsible to our shareholders, then we can contribute and move forward aggressively.”Translating Discoveries into Improved Health
While strides have been made in the areas of new HIV/AIDS and malaria products reaching the developing world – the world’s first malaria vaccine is due in four to five years – many other diseases in the developing world remain to be fully tackled. In part, the partnerships forum looked at how to apply lessons learned from the areas of HIV/AIDS and malaria to other product development cycles. The overarching goals of the partnerships forum were to:- foster an ongoing dialogue between UCSF and industry participants to focus on the development of new therapeutics for infectious and other diseases that predominantly afflict populations in the developing world; and
- draft a set of recommendations to allow for future collaborations and partnerships between academia, industry and philanthropy.
Serving a Global Community
In addition to making specific recommendations about product development, forum participants examined how therapeutic discoveries could best reach those who need them most. They addressed topics such as capacity building in the developing world, policies on access and translational medicine. Mary Anne Koda-Kimble, PharmD, dean of the UCSF School of Pharmacy, made an observation that was strongly echoed by leaders from each area of the partnerships. “Whatever we can do to stimulate productive working relationships among industry, academia and funders is essential,” she said. “At the same time, we must never forget that our good intentions are not enough. We in developed nations can't just swoop in with all the answers; we don't have them. Any success in getting affordable and needed medications to people in the developing world must be done in partnership with developing countries -- at the outset -- and with cultural respect always.” The UCSF Development Office is following up on this observation by seeking to include representatives from developing countries in the next phase of the partnerships forum. Feachem concluded the forum by stating that the partnerships being sought are ones meant to last not only a few years, but a few decades. He encouraged the group of leaders to work toward supporting the paradigm shift often referenced by Haile Debas, MD, executive director of Global Health Sciences at UCSF. This is a shift to forming trusting, transparent partnerships which allow for capacity building in the developing world. The forum resulted in several plans for future discussions between researchers at UCSF, the Gates Foundation and industry representatives.Photo by Shipra Shukla