Nonprofit Effort Gets Low-Cost Drugs to Developing Countries

A nonprofit group that develops treatments for diseases that many drug companies overlook has a business model that could save hundreds of thousands of lives, reports MSNBC.

After quitting her job at a major drug company, Victoria Hale founded OneWorld Health to investigate drugs whose patents had expired or which languished from inattention because they offered little chance of profit.

OneWorld’s first target drug fought black fever in India, and the group collaborated with a small for-profit biotechnology company to develop a cheap way to mass-produce a proven malaria cure. Along the way, OneWorld Health secured a $150-million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Since then, Dr. Hale said she has received many enthusiastic messages from drug-company employees who got into the business for humanitarian reasons, encouraging her and asking how they can help.

Read The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s coverage of Dr. Hale’s nonprofit drug company.

(A paid subscription is required to view the Chronicle article.)