KNOWLEDGE PORTAL
on innovation and access to medicines

“MPP was established in 2010 by Unitaid. Its vision was that non-exclusive voluntary licensing through a public health agency would enable more people in LMICs to access affordable treatments. Since then, MPP has succeeded in revolutionizing the access landscape for new and essential treatments in resource-limited settings…Our mission is to increase access to, and facilitate the development of, life-saving medicines for LMICs. We do this through an innovative approach to voluntary licensing and patent pooling. We work with a range of partners — civil society, international organisations, industry, patient groups and governments — to prioritise and license novel and existing medicines and health technologies for people in these countries” (MPP, n.d.).

Founded in 2014, MAPS Public Benefit Corporation (MAPS PBC) is a subsidiary of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. MAPS is focused “on developing and commercializing prescription psychedelics to bring better treatments to those living with mental health conditions” (MAPS, n.d.). Their mission is to “lead the research, development, and integration of psychedelic medicines and therapies into the healthcare system, prioritizing purpose over profits” (ibid).

NANOGEN BIOPHARMACEUTICAL is a private pharmaceutical company based in Vietnam, whose mission is to “develop and manufacture safe, effective and affordable biopharmaceuticals for patients. We use novel technology to enhance the drug formulations with better tolerability and safety” (NANOGEN, n.d.). In 2021, NANOGEN reported that they were willing to share the know-how and technology used to develop their COVID-19 vaccine candidate, as the vaccine started phase II trials. (Devex, 2021)

“The Bridging Interventional Development Gaps (BrIDGs) program enables research collaborations to advance candidate therapeutics for both common and rare diseases into clinical testing. Investigators do not receive grant funds through this program. Instead, selected researchers partner with NCATS experts to generate preclinical data and clinical-grade material through government contracts for use in Investigational New Drug (IND) applications to a regulatory authority such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In general, BrIDGs provides synthesis, formulation, pharmacokinetic and toxicology expertise and resources to its collaborators” (NCATS, 2020).

This initiative was selected based on its inclusion in the report “RE:ROUTE, A map of the alternative biomedical R&D landscape” (Kiddell-Monroe, Greenberg, and Basey 2016).

“NCATS designed its New Therapeutic Uses program to align with one of its primary goals: to foster approaches that improve the translational research pipeline and ultimately accelerate the pace at which discoveries are turned into new preventions, treatments and cures for human diseases” (NCATS-NTU, 2022).

“Oncode is an independent institute dedicated to understanding cancer and translating research into practice. The best fundamental cancer researchers in the Netherlands come together in Oncode to bring their research discoveries into the clinic faster. Along with performing vital basic research, Oncode is specialized in cooperating with third parties to guide its scientists’ discoveries towards translational and clinical research and novel diagnostics, drugs and treatments” (Oncode, n.d.).

MMV is a PDP that “was launched on 3 November 1999, with initial seed financing of US$ 4 million from the Government of Switzerland, UK Department for International Development, the Government of the Netherlands, The World Bank and Rockefeller Foundation… Our mission is to reduce the burden of malaria in disease-endemic countries by discovering, developing and facilitating delivery of new, effective and affordable antimalarial drugs. MMV manages a portfolio of over 65 antimalarial medicines, the largest ever assembled. With partners, we have brought forward 15 medicines that are treating patients. These medicines have saved over 3 million lives” (MMV, n.d.).

“Mundo Sano is a family foundation that has been working to reduce the impact of neglected diseases since 1993. Its mission is to develop effective management models that are replicable, sustainable, scalable and transferable, through public-private partnerships, based on multidisciplinary scientific research, together with the affected communities…Our daily activity is field work. Both in our own offices and in other locations -through partners that provide local leadership- we implement programs that seek to efficiently overcome the barriers that hinder people’s access to health, thereby generating useful evidence for public policies” (Mundo Sano, n.d.).

This organization was included for its participation in non profit R&D for Neglected Diseases (Vieira M, Kimmitt R and Moon S.  F1000Research 2021, 10:190)

“NCATS is committed to using research to address the public health crisis presented by rare diseases. Speeding development of treatments for patients requires innovation in science and technology and engaging patients and their support organizations as essential partners…NCATS seeks to facilitate rare diseases research by enabling efficient and effective movement of candidate therapies and diagnostics toward clinical trials and to increase their likelihood of success” (NCATS, 2023).

“The Odylia nonprofit model starts by identifying promising early-stage investigational drugs through a global network of leaders in academic research and patient group-led efforts. From there, the Odylia team builds a collaborative network of partners and a strategic plan for each program that is fueled by support from a broad community of stakeholders including philanthropic organizations and families as well as industry supporters. To build the right team to advance each program, Odylia breaks down competitive barriers, bringing together a coalition of patient advocacy groups, researchers, industry partners, and funders who play pivotal roles in moving each development program forward” (Odylia, n.d.).

“Open Source Drug Discovery (OSDD) is a CSIR led team India Consortium with global partnership with a vision to provide affordable healthcare to the developing world by providing a global platform where the best minds can collaborate & collectively endeavor to solve the complex problems associated with discovering novel therapies for neglected tropical diseases like Tuberculosis, Malaria, Leishmaniasis etc. OSDD is a translational platform for drug discovery, bringing together informaticians, wet lab scientists, contract research organizations, clinicians, hospitals and others who are willing to adhere to the affordable healthcare philosophy agreeing to the OSDD license” (OSDD, n.d.).