Design Thinking is an approach to designing products and services that takes into account not just needs of the consumers, but also their social and cultural infrastructure. Socially, it can be about addressing the needs of women in third world villages collecting their daily water, or observing the ways in which “very, very poor” families keep their children healthy in areas where children were usually malnourished. It asks that the designer be “open” to seeing the flaws within systems and use their creativity, experience and open-mindedness to fill in the gaps.

InnoCentive is referenced as a good example of how design thinking can result in hundreds of ideas. CEO Dwayne Spradlin defines this “process [as] a prime example of design thinking contributing to social innovation” and cites our partnership with the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development. If you remember, the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development was looking for ways to simplify the current TB treatment regime, and selected a theoretical solution from a Solver who lives in India, Dr. Kana Sureshan. Dr. Sureshan’s mother developed TB when he was 14 years old. Since she was the sole breadwinner in his family, he had to take on the financial responsibility through his high-school and college years. Dr. Sureshan’s drive is palpable, and through his experience and education, he has been able to make a positive impact in the lives of people going through this treatment. As Dwayne says, it is these “projects within the InnoCentive community [that] benefit from such deep and motivating connections.”

Have a read; you will be inspired at how a conceptual approach that is fundamentally “optimistic, constructive, and experiential” can lead to some pretty cool solutions that help to create better lives for people.

I am a scientist by profession. My training was in organic chemistry and my present interests are in medicinal chemistry and chemical biology, more specifically in cellular signaling. Recently I have joined as a senior scientist in the Institute of Life Sciences, Hyderabad, India. I did my PhD from National Chemical Laboratory Pune, India working in the group of Dr. M. S. Shashidhar. After my PhD, I moved to Japan to work in the group of Prof. Yutaka Watanabe, Ehime University availing JSPS fellowship from Govt. of Japan.  After two years of postdoctoral stay in Japan, I joined Prof. Barry Potter’s group (University of Bath, UK) as a Research Officer. After spending two years in England, I have received Alexander von Humboldt fellowship from the Federal Govt. of Germany and joined the group of Prof. Herbert Waldmann at the Max-Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology, Dortmund, Germany.  I have published my research accomplishments, till date, in more than 35 international publications.  In recognition of my scientific achievements, my biography has been incorporated in three books by Marquis Whos Who, U.S.A namely, Who is Who in the World, Who is Who in Science and Technology and Who is Who in Asia. Among other academic activities, I am a frequent reviewer of different international journals and I am editorial board member of the journal OPEN GLYCOSCIENCE, a forum for publishing chemical and biological aspects of carbohydrates and related biomolecules.

Apart from chemical biology and medicinal chemistry, I am also interested in asymmetric synthesis, total synthesis of biologically active natural products and analogues, development of methodologies for novel chemical transformations etc.  Such novel methodologies could have potential as tools to study biology.  Another interest of mine is the use of enzymes for novel chemical transformations, which are otherwise difficult to achieve.  In an era when the boundaries between the subjects are disappearing, I believe, working at these closely related, complimentary and interlinked areas of sciences will be exciting.

The challenge by Rockefeller foundation for designing the most economical and safest route to PA-824, the candidate drug for tuberculosis attracted my attention. Why? My mother was the only breadwinner of my family and during my school days (when I was 14) she had to stop working due to tuberculosis and I had to take the responsibility of breadwinning during my school days and college days and I often had to work on weekends and after-school-hours to provide her medication and feed my family.  This was the particular reason I was interested in this challenge of developing an economical route for the anti-TB drug. I am happy and excited that my contribution of developing a cost effective process will be benefited by millions suffering from TB especially from developing and underdeveloped countries.  I am looking forward to hear the success story of my process.

The relation with innocentive has always been encouraging. I am looking forward for future challenges, where my contribution can make a difference.

I am a workaholic person and I often wonder why there are only 24 hours for a day! During free time (which hardly or very rarely turns up) I like to play chess and listen to carnatic music, a form of Indian classical music.

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.

Compounds within our portfolio are being developed to improve and simplify the current TB treatment regimen.

In this Challenge, the TB Alliance was seeking a theoretical solution to simplify the manufacturing process of one of our furthest advanced compounds. The initial manufacturing process was complicated and costly. If the solution we selected proves to be successful in practice, it will improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the method by which we produce the compound.  Minimizing the cost of production is important because it directly relates to the TB Alliance’s commitments to affordability and availability.

Why did your organization choose to work with InnoCentive?

As a non-profit, we don’t have the luxury of an entire department devoted to optimizing manufacturing processes, such as those found in some of the largest pharmaceutical companies.  In InnoCentive, we saw a unique mechanism to leverage the power of intellectual resources scattered around the world. By posting the Challenge with InnoCentive, and through the process of gathering responses, we were able to solicit, and then analyze a wide variety of approaches to attempt to solve a complicated problem.

What were your impressions of the solutions submitted by Solvers?

We received creative, high caliber proposals from all over the world.  We chose what we thought to be the best of those proposals and are now in the process of implementing them. If they prove successful, we hope to utilize a similar approach when faced with complex problems in the future.

What would you like our Solvers to know about open innovation in the non-profit sector?

The TB Alliance is a not-for-profit product development partnership (PDP). PDPs build partnerships between the public, private, academic, and philanthropic sectors to drive the development of new products for underserved markets. That model allows, and compels PDPs, like the TB Alliance, to apply a wide range of tools and knowledge to their programs.

PDPs are created for the public good; their products are made affordable to all those who need them.

The flexible structure of the PDP model produces agile organizations that are receptive to the latest innovations, regardless of their origin. By design and necessity, the not-for-profit, PDP sector is a space that welcomes innovations, and puts them to use for the public good, touching those in most desperate need and most difficult to reach. Additionally, by having a comprehensive network of researchers in the field, we are in position to connect and organize scientists and organizations in order to expedite research in areas where the need is high but the resources may not be abundant.

Thanks Dr. Kaneko – our Solvers always appreciate hearing directly from Seekers.

My pleasure.