October 2014
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A Note from Jennifer
Dear WIPO Re:Search Members and Friends, 

   

 

It is hard to believe, but this month WIPO Re:Search celebrates its third anniversary! In these three years, BVGH has facilitated 79 partnerships between Members. These partnerships involve 47 Members, representing 15 countries, and focus on 18 diseases, including dengue, Buruli ulcer, and schistosomiasis. BVGH is looking forward to the coming year and the new partnerships and Members that it will bring.


Last week I attended the 2014 Grand Challenges Meeting in Seattle. The meeting, which convened some of the best and brightest minds in global health, was an excellent opportunity to engage representatives from current WIPO Re:Search Member organizations as well as potential new Members.


Roopa Ramamoorthi will be attending the 63rd ASTMH Annual Meeting in New Orleans and Katy Graef and I will be at this year's WIPO Re:Search Annual Meeting. If you would like to meet with us at either of these events, please email Katy.


I am pleased to welcome our two newest Members, the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) and the Central University of Ecuador.


As always, please forward this Snapshot to your colleagues and reach out to us with any partnering requests or ideas.


 

 

Sincerely,

 Jennifer Dent

President, BVGH 

 

noticeSpecial Announcement - 2014 WIPO Re:Search Annual Meeting 

The 2014 WIPO Re:Search Annual Meeting will be held on November 6th at Pfizer's global headquarters in New York City. Members may participate in person or via WebEx. To confirm your participation, email a completed attendance form to Claudette Safar Richa at WIPO. 


 

Prior to the Annual Meeting (Nov. 4-5th), WIPO will hold a two-day workshop focusing on intellectual property management. For more information about this workshop, please email Tom Bombelles (WIPO).
statsWIPO Re:Search Statistics


To view a current summary of the WIPO Re:Search agreements by disease and stage of development, click here.

  

Two new partnerships were finalized last month, including:

 

 

University of Ibadan logo


 

Prof. Wei Hu, Head, Joint Laboratory of Genetics and Ecology of Parasite-Vector, National Institute of Parasitic Diseases (NIPD), Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC), will provide Prof. Alexander Odaibo, Head, Parasitology Research Unit, Faculty of Science, University of Ibadan, with a lateral flow dipstick diagnostic for schistosomiasis. Prof. Odaibo will assess the ability of the diagnostic, which was developed to diagnose S. japonicum infections, to diagnose S. mansoni infections.


 

memberNew Members Announcement

 

We are pleased to announce that the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) and the Central University of Ecuador have joined WIPO Re:Search.


 


 

Located in Accra, Ghana, the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) is Ghana's leading biomedical research facility. In addition to providing specialized diagnostic and monitoring services, NMIMR scientists conduct research into diseases of importance to Ghana. This includes malaria, leishmania, Buruli ulcer, and viral hemorrhagic fevers.


"NMIMR has strong programs in malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, NTDs, and emerging infections such as influenza and viral hemorrhagic fevers.  Another area of interest is medicinal plant research and there are groups interested in finding novel treatments for most of the pathogens that we work on. This program is what underlies our interest in joining WIPO Re:Search. Since our introduction to the family of WIPO and BVGH, we have experienced strong support from the team in Seattle and we are very grateful. As we look to the future, we expect to forge strong collaborations with established institutes to enable us to exploit the rich resources we have in Ghana. Already, the support we have had is a clear pointer that we will be able to travel this path, in the WIPO and BVGH family and establish a strong drug discovery program at the Institute." - Professor Kwadwo Koram, Professor & Director, NMIMR


 


 


 
The Central University of Ecuador, located in Quito, Ecuador, seeks to provide universal access to knowledge and culture. The scientists at the University's Center of Biomedicine conduct research of relevance to WIPO Re:Search including examining the anti-parasitic activities of native plants and the immunology and molecular biology of parasitic infections.


 

hubPartnership Hub Central

Jennifer Dent presented WIPO Re:Search at the 2014 Advances in Medicinal Plants Research in Ghana workshop held in Accra, Ghana. During her presentation, Jennifer described three WIPO Re:Search partnerships that involved screening natural products against M. tuberculosis, schistosomal worms, and soil-transmitted helminths.
Participants of the 2014 Advances in Medicinal Plants Research in Ghana. Attendees included: Prof. Oduro (Provost, UG), Dr. Daasebre Kwebu Ewusi (GTMF), Prof. Koram (NMIMR), Dr. Appiah-Opong (NMIMR), Dr. Ekuazi (KNUST), Dr. Suzuki (NMIMR/TMDU), Prof. Yamaoka (TMDU), Dr. Ayi (NMIMR), Mr. Tanaka (JICA), Mrs. Adu-Amankwah (NMIMR), Prof. Nyarko (UG), Prof. Edoh (CSRPM), Mr. Arhin (TAMD, Ministry of Health), and Prof. Ohta (TMDU)
UG: University of Ghana; GTMF: Ghana Traditional Medicine Foundation; NMIMR: Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research; KNUST: Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology; TMDU: Tokyo Medical and Dental University; JICA: Japan International Cooperation Agency; CSRPM: Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine; TAMD: Traditional & Alternative Medicine Directorate

Jennifer attended the 2014 Grand Challenges Meeting, which marked the ten year anniversary of the Grand Challenges award scheme. While at the meeting, Jennifer spoke with representatives from many current WIPO Re:Search Members including the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), the Center for World Health & Medicine (CWHM), Seattle BioMed, and the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR).
From left to right: Ujwal Sheth (BVGH), Jennifer Dent, Prof. Kwadwo Koram (NMIMR), and Katy Graef (BVGH)
BVGH published an article, "WIPO Re:Search: Catalyzing Collaborations to Accelerate Product Development for Diseases of Poverty", in a special global health edition of Chemical Reviews. The article, co-authored with Anatole Krattiger, Director, Global Challenges Division, WIPO, described five WIPO Re:Search partnerships, including an agreement between Pfizer and PATH.
spotlightMember Spotlight



The United States Patents & Trademark Office (USPTO) is accepting applications for its Patents for Humanity prize. This competition awards innovators that use patented technologies to address global challenges in five areas, including medicine. Winners receive recognition at a public awards ceremony and a certificate to accelerate one USPTO matter for any technology in their portfolio. The program is open to all types of businesses, researchers, and inventors - any patent holders or licensees may apply. Applications are due by Oct. 31, 2014.
HCHighlighted Contributions  
 

Featured this month are two contributions submitted by the University of South Florida (USF) to the WIPO Re:Search Database.



 

Nanoparticles to enhance antibiotic delivery and performance (ID: 2881)

Researchers at USF are seeking partners to license their novel nanoparticles for the protection, rejuvenation, and delivery of antibiotic drugs. This methodology implements microemulsion polymerization as a means to easily prepare aqueous solutions of polyacrylate nanoparticles that contain antibacterial drugs either chemically bonded to the nanoparticle matrix or encapsulated within its protective core structure.
 


 

Design and Immunogenicity of a Novel Synthetic Antigen of the Plasmodium vivax Duffy Binding Protein (ID: 2902)

USF researchers are seeking partners to license their novel synthetic vaccine based on the ligand domain of the Plasmodium vivax Duffy binding protein (PvDBP). PvDBP is an essential ligand for parasite invasion of erythrocytes, making the molecule an attractive vaccine candidate against vivax malaria. However, allelic variation in the ligand domain may compromise vaccine efficacy by eliciting a strain-specific immune response. To overcome this inherent bias, USF researchers have designed a novel DBP-based vaccine that would elicit antibodies with functional activity against broader allelic variants and favor boosting responses against conserved protective epitopes.


For more information or to discuss potential collaborations regarding this technology, please contact Roopa Ramamoorthi.  

newsWIPO Re:Search in the News

WIPO Re:Search was mentioned in the article, "Emerging and Reemerging Neglected Tropical Diseases: a Review of Key Characteristics, Risk Factors, and the Policy and Innovation Environment", which was published in Clinical Microbiology Reviews. Tim Mackey et al. referenced WIPO Re:Search in their discussion of the new public-private partnerships paradigm for addressing emerging and re-emerging neglected tropical diseases.
EventsTableUpcoming Global Health Events

Dates
Event Title
Location
Web Link
Nov. 2-6
American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) 63rd Annual Meeting
New Orleans, LA
Dec. 2-4
Joint International Tropical Medicine Meeting (JITMM 2014)

Bangkok, Thailand

Are you attending a global health event?
Do you have a Research Request to highlight in the Snapshot?

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WIPO Re:Search Pharmaceutical Members
 
 *known as Merck in the US and Canada

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