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MEND is a non-profit organization founded
approximately five years ago |
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by Harvard professor David Edwards. |
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Our mission
is to expedite the creation |
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and long term availability
of badly needed drugs |
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andvaccines for diseases
of poverty that affect |
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some of the poorest people
of the world. |
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We do this by applying new
and emerging technologies to candidates |
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at two key but very different points
in their development timeline. |
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The first application
is the critical bridge |
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that connects groundbreaking discoveries
in a laboratory |
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to the testing that’s needed
in clinical trials. |
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The way a drug or a vaccine
is formulated at this point |
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is particularly critical because
it generally determines |
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all of its future physical characteristics
such as route of administration, |
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stability, cost, andeven safety
and efficacy. |
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Proceeding with the sub-optimal
formulation |
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may even cause the candidate to fail
or continue in a way that makes it |
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very difficult or costly
to implement in a developing country. |
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The second application that we
focused is selecting drugs |
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and vaccines that are
currently available in the US |
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and Europe but requires
some technical intervention to make them |
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more suitable
for developing world environment. |
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This may often make their
efficacy better as well. |
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Three prime examples
of the way we do this are firstly, |
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eliminating the need
for refrigeration or freezing; secondly, |
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making formulations that don’t require
injection or hypodermic needles; thirdly, |
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making the cost of the product cheaper
to manufacture. |
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One of the ways that MEND
is an innovator |
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and different from
some of the other non-profits |
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and research NGOs in the global health
space is our business model |
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which is designed to allow us to operate
without relying permanently |
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on charitable contributions.
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At MEND we see an opportunity
to disrupt the status quo |
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based on two fundamental
and recent step changes |
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in the global landscape:
emerging technologies andemerging markets. |
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First technology,
rather than building up static brick |
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and mortar type of arrangement,
a very important part of MEND is the growth |
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and cultivation of a broad and dynamic
virtual network of technology practitioners, |
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literally hundreds of them from academia
and industry. |
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These practitioners are involved in a wide
variety of traditional disciplines, |
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everything from nanoparticle engineering
to microelectronics to systems biology, |
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even rocket propulsion,
and they’re often more than happy to learn |
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that their particular technology
may advance in altruistic costs |
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and have a positive societal impact.
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This crowd sourcing approach allows us
to select the most promising technology |
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and pair it to the need,
working with the inventor to reduce it |
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to practice
in the most efficient way possible. |
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Often this is under controlled conditions
in our laboratories either in Boston, |
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Massachusetts or Pretoria,
South Africa. |
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This also means that we can tackle some
of the toughest pharmaceutical challenges |
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and bring forward cheap and effective drugs
and vaccines that would have been |
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considered intractable
or impossible even just a few years ago. |
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The second fundamental change
in the global landscape |
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refers to the evolution
of emerging economies, |
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those primarily of China, India,
Russia, and Brazil. |
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These markets are evolving public
and private healthcare systems |
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that can potentially provide
a reasonable financial return |
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for the treatment of the same
infectious diseases that have been |
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crippling least developed
countries for decades. |
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Combining these two factors defines MEND’s
market-based approach to global health. |
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First we generate new intellectual property
by finding innovative ways |
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to make improvements to new
and existing drugs andvaccines. |
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We then typically license the IP
end products to companies |
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who are interested in pursuing profitable
sectors of emerging markets |
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and in some cases even translate the IP
for use in developed countries. |
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In return, these companies also commit
to provide access to the same products |
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for least developed countries
at or near cost. |
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Any return or royalties we receive
as a result of these licenses goes back |
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to fund our charitable mission,
as these returns increase our reliance |
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on for-profit funding decreases,
our goal being to ultimately |
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become entirely self-sustainable.
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Naturally, MEND’s motivations are a little
bit different from a for-profit startup, |
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seeking economic concessions,
or an incubating environment. |
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Instead we put a priority
on locating innovation |
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and partnering with local entities in
the countries that have the greatest need. |
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This is why a significant proportion
of our science |
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is conducted in our labs in South Africa.
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South Africa itself is not a least
developed country |
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but those have a high burden
of tuberculosis, HIV, |
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and other neglected tropical diseases.
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South Africa offers us an excellent balance
between being close |
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to the high burden countries that need
these therapies as well as |
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having a stable enough infrastructure
that we can conduct a complex science |
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that needs to happen
without fear of interruption. |
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At MEND we take a very pragmatic
approach to our mission. |
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The only metric that really matters to us
is the introduction of a new or improved |
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vaccine or drug
to least developed countries |
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and the improvement
of the health of the populations there. |
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Our most advanced compound is a new form
of a drug called capreomycin typically |
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used for drug-resistant tuberculosis.
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Through the appropriate application
of technologies, |
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we have eliminated the need
for refrigeration, |
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can manufacture it more cheaply
than its previous form, |
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have eliminated the requirement
for hypodermic needles by use of an inhaler, |
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andperhaps most excitingly,
may have the potential |
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for decreasing the duration of treatment
which currently lasts up to 24 months. |
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We also have other projects
in our portfolio |
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that receive comparatively
less attention. |
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For example, rotavirus infection
which causes diarrhea in children |
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and is responsible for upwards
of 600,000 deaths per year |
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and also pandemic flu for which
the consequences of an outbreak |
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in the developing world
are hard to fathom. |
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On behalf of our team, the Board
of Directors, andour founder, |
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David Edwards, we appreciate
the recognition afforded to us |
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by the World Economic Forum
and hope that this video might inspire |
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and energize others to join us
in improving global health. |