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Long ignored by pharmaceutical companies and global health agencies alike, 'neglected tropical diseases' devastate people in the poorest parts of the world. But they're finally getting the attention they deserve, reports Apoorva Mandavilli.

Finding the financial means to achieve global health targets poses a huge challenge. Government donations can take years or even decades after formal approval to actually arrive. To overcome this hurdle and quickly raise huge sums for child vaccination programs, the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm, pronounced 'if im') raises funds from private investors by offering them bonds backed by government pledges. Alan Gillespie, chairman of the board at IFFIm, interfaces between the source of the funds, the capital markets and the distributor, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (The GAVI Alliance). Guided by Gillespie, IFFIm has thus far raised over $1 billion for vaccines, which is already flowing through GAVI into childhood immunization programs. Gillespie, who also serves as chairman of the Ulster Bank Group in Belfast, explains IFFIm's unique funding approach to Genevive Bjorn.

Today, the practice of moving technologies from the lab to the marketplace is commonplace. But when Maria Freire began dabbling in the process a quarter-century ago, it had only just started receiving serious attention from the US government. As former head of the Office of Technology Transfer at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), and more recently as chief executive officer and president of the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance), Freire helped commercialize numerous new health technologies. This past March, she became president of the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, which each year awards the nation's most distinguished honors for science, often dubbed 'America's Nobels'. She spoke with Alisa Opar about her previous work advancing biomedical research and her new role at the foundation.

Timeline of events...a brief look at the headlines from the past month

In 1999, Hussein bin Talal, the king of Jordan, died after a long battle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Since then, his eldest son and successor, King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein, has sought to improve cancer treatment in his country as part of an effort to boost healthcare and technological development. The country's capital, Amman, now boasts a world-class cancer treatment center, which draws patients from throughout the region. To lead that effort, the king tapped Samir Khleif, chief of the cancer vaccine section at the US National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. Khleif, who received his medical degree in Jordan, now has an even bigger mandate from the king: to build an internationally renowned institute devoted to cancer research and biotechnology. Construction on The King Hussein Institute for Cancer and Biotechnology is scheduled to begin on the outskirts of Amman this month, with an expected completion in 2010.

Current medications used to treat drug addiction help to some extent by easing withdrawal symptoms, but these treatments cannot curb the high that people receive when they relapse and take a hit of the drug. Emma Marris explores how researchers are working on a way to make these tempting drug highs history for recovering addicts.