Perspectives on Innovation

InnoCentive recently announced the posting of one of the most ambitious Challenges we’ve seen to date – posted by the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). The objective of this Challenge is to further the development of an HIV/AIDS vaccine.  I asked Kalpana Gupta, Ph.D., Director, New Alliances & Initiatives at IAVI to provide a bit of insight into the current state of HIV/AIDS vaccine development and the importance of this particular Challenge to that effort. 
 

Hi Kalpana – thanks for answering my questions today.  Can you tell me about the general state of the search for a vaccine for HIV/AIDS?

Hi Connie.  Although HIV was discovered to be the virus that causes AIDS 25 years ago, the effort to develop a preventive AIDS vaccine has only been a robustly funded initiative in the last decade. In that time, we have seen a tremendous surge in political and financial support for AIDS vaccine development. We have also seen a steady stream of incremental advances that provide the foundation for the AIDS vaccine development efforts now underway across the globe.  (more…)

Yesterday we announced that a Challenge posted on the InnoCentive Marketplace by the TB Alliance seeking cost-effective methods of manufacturing TB drugs had been solved. We recently had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Takushi Kaneko, Ph.D. Project Leader, Research for TB Alliance about the program and the impact of the innovations provided by the InnoCentive Solver.

Hi Dr. Kaneko – congratulations on receiving a solution to your recent Challenge.  Can you tell me a bit about your organization?

Thank you Connie.  Absolutely.  The Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) is a not-for-profit, product development partnership (PDP) dedicated to accelerating the discovery and development of new and improved drugs to treat tuberculosis (TB).

We work with public and private partners worldwide and lead the development of the most comprehensive portfolio of TB drug candidates in history.

We seek to develop drugs that will shorten treatment, be effective against susceptible and resistant strains of TB, and be compatible with antiretroviral therapies for those HIV-TB patients currently on such therapies.

Additionally, the TB Alliance mission includes an explicit commitment to what we call “AAA”: Affordability, Adoption and Availability to ensure that new treatments reach the patients who need them, many of those patients being in the developing world.

What problem were you trying to address with your Challenge and how will the solution you selected help?

Today’s TB drug regimen takes too long to administer and requires too many pills. The current treatment course consists of four medicines and is more than 40 years old.  It works for active, drug-susceptible TB – as long as patients complete the six- to nine-month treatment. Many TB patients do not complete this lengthy regimen, and are not cured. Non-compliance has led to the development of deadly, drug-resistant strains. (more…)