Formulation and Delivery – Chemical
Niya Bowers, PhD
Senior Program Officer
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Seattle, Washington
Nikoletta Fotaki, PhD
Reader in (Bio)Pharmaceutics
University of Bath
Bath
Each year, over 500 million people in low income countries suffer from diseases that are preventable and treatable in the developed world. Malaria, HIV, TB, and neglected tropical diseases kill more than 4 million people, many of them children under 5. Among the United Nation 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, six of them directly address health disparities, highlighting the urgency in providing affordable and accessible basic medicines to the 2 billion people living in extreme poverty.
Historically, vaccines have been used to prevent many childhood and communicable diseases. Recently small molecule prophylactics has shown increased importance in global health disease control and reduction. For example, the long-acting injectable cabotegravir developed by ViiV is being used to prevent HIV infection. A monthly oral capsule of ivermectin and a long acting injectable of a NCE are under development as prophylactic to prevent malaria infection. We also made significant investments that dedicated to discover and to develop new products to improve woman health including new contraceptive technologies. Developing non-vaccine and cost effective antiviral prophylactic for respiratory pandemic such as COVID-19 is another focus area.
In this talk, I will describe some of the investments that the Gates Foundation is making in innovative prophylactic products to meet Global Health needs. I will also highlight some of the unique challenges in developing and delivering these tools to achieve the real impact.