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NIH forges R&D partnerships in developing countries

Nature Biotechnology volume 25, pages 976–977 (2007)Cite this article

To the editor:

Persistent inequities in the availability of medicines for the poorest populations have catalyzed major public, non-profit and private sector players into action, leading to the establishment of a variety of initiatives that aim to strengthen local capacity for research and development (R&D) and the production of essential biomedical technologies in developing countries1. North-South and South-South Partnerships aiming to enhance technical assistance by sharing expertise and best technology-transfer practices could play a key role assisting institutions in emerging economies like India, China, Brazil and South Africa. These challenges require the training of staff with multidisciplinary skills (e.g., law, science and business) to negotiate intellectual property (IP) agreements on a level playing field to protect local interests and the development of information resources that can facilitate access to technology. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) has recently been making progress in both of these regards.

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References

  1. Harris, E. EMBO Reports 5, 7–11 (2004).

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  2. The World Bank. World Development Report 2006: Equity and Development. (The World Bank Group, Washington, DC, 2006).<http://www.worldbank.org/wdr2006>.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Suresh Jadhav, President of the Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturing Network (DCVMN); Rachelle Harris, MIHR; Charles Gardner, Rockefeller Foundation; K. Saha, Patent Facilitation Centre in India; S. Mtsweni and Sibongile Pefile from the South African Council for Scientific Industrial Research; Ricardo Peñuela-Paua from Technosur; Lino Barañao from the Argentinean Agency for Science, Technology & Productive Innovation; and Steve Ferguson, Uri Reichman and Mark Rohrbaugh from NIH OTT for their comments on and suggestions for this article. Also many thanks to Uri Reichman, Peter Soukas, Kevin Bugin, Patricia Cotton, Gonzalo Barrera-Hernandez, Anatole Kratiger, Steve Price, Michael Shmilovich, Chekescha Clingmen, Sue Ano, Lili Portilla, Mukul Ranjan, Michael Mowatt, Sally Hu, Kate Sinclair, Keisha Lewis, and many others for their dedication and time to this training program.

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  1. US National Institutes of Health, Office of Technology Transfer, 6011 Executive Boulevard, Suite 325, Mail Stop 7660, Rockville, Maryland 20852-3804, USA; Present address: the Regional Science Bureau for Latin America & the Caribbean, United National Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Dr. Luis Piera 1992, Montevideo, 11200, Uruguay. salicrup1@yahoo.com

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  1. Luis A. Salicrup
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Salicrup, L. NIH forges R&D partnerships in developing countries. Nat Biotechnol 25, 976–977 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0907-976

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