Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Bangkok Post - July 28, 2006
This is in contrast to the way research is typically carried out by the large pharmaceutical companies, which jealously guard breakthroughs until they can be patented.
The major difference in philanthropic operations like the Gates Foundation and pharmaceutical companies is, of course, that the latter are profit-driven while the former are results-driven.
Today this means that, besides a willingness to cooperate, some researchers have been empowered to go after the "poor man's diseases", those that typically plague developing nations. Foremost among these are malaria and tuberculosis, which the Gates Foundation is also pouring money into for treatments and vaccines.
It is estimated that two billion people - or one-third of the world's population- are chronically infected without active symptoms of tuberculosis. Nine million new cases of active disease are diagnosed annually, resulting in two million deaths.
An excellent article in the current issue of Foreign Policy magazine relates the story of a scientist who believes he has found a vaccine against the deadly hookworm parasite which afflicts millions in the tropics.
The worm can be got rid of through treatment, but reinfestation is common. The scientist was turned down by a number of pharmaceutical companies when he approached them to produce the vaccine and conduct trials. There is just no money in it.
As a last resort the scientist appealed to the Gates Foundation, and his efforts were rewarded. The foundation has provided more than $40 million since 2000, and clinical trials of the vaccine are scheduled to begin in Brazil in a few months.
Because of its high profile, research for HIV/Aids does receive much greater funding than malaria and tuberculosis, and certainly hookworm, but considering the real and potential devastation of the disease, this research also is vastly underfunded.
With the spread of HIV having levelled off in the West, the great majority of new cases of HIV transmission are occurring in Africa, China, India and other places where few people have the money or insurance coverage for expensive new treatments.
It should be noted that the Aids Vaccine Advocacy Coalition has said that while the Gates Foundation initiative makes a very important contribution, funds to find a vaccine are still inadequate.
Financier Warren Buffet, the world's second richest man, recently announced he was donating $37 billion to the foundation started by the world's richest man. Some might say that Buffet's and the Gates' philanthropy is no more than they should do; they are still rich beyond almost everyone else's wildest dreams.
Yet such generosity, of time and energy as well as money, is unusual in any financial bracket and should be commended and held up as an example for all.
There are of course others who deserve recognition for philanthropy on a grand scale in the modern world. Former US President Bill Clinton comes to mind for his work, which makes use of the force of his personality more than his money, to bring down the price of Aids treatment in the Third World.
In this age of tremendous wealth inequality it is somehow satisfying to see a precious few in the socio-economic stratosphere devote themselves to eradicating the scourges of the masses.
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