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Organization Contact Information

Name: BIO Ventures for Global Health
Street 1: 401 Terry Avenue North
Street 2:
City: Seattle
Province: Washington
Post Code: 98109
Country: United States of America
Phone: 206-732-2131
Organization Email: jdent@bvgh.org
Web Site: http://www.bvgh.org
Other Online Presence:

Focal Point Contact Information

Salutation: Ms.
First Name: Jennifer
Last Name: Dent
Title: President
Email: jdent@bvgh.org
Phone: 6502284375

Alternate Focal Point Contact Information

Salutation: Dr.
First Name: Roopa
Last Name: Ramamoorthi
Title: Associate Director
Email: rramamoorthi@bvgh.org
Phone:  

General Information

Board Constituency: Developing Country NGO
Is your organization legally registered in your country: Yes
If yes, please enter your registration number:
Organization Type - Primary: Non-Governmental Organization
Organization Type - Secondary: Other Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)
Organization Description:
BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) engages private industry companies, such as pharmaceutical and biotechnology organizations, in global health programs and initiatives. BVGH works with these companies to develop partnerships involving sharing of their expertise, knowledge, capabilities, and other intellectual property assets with scientists from academic, nonprofit, and government research institutions. These collaborations are created to accelerate the development of new drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines for diseases impacting populations living in poverty.
BVGH is specifically interested in tuberculosis due to its substantial effect on individuals and populations living in poverty. In addition, the world lacks safe, efficacious, and affordable anti-tuberculosis products, and thus facilitating partnerships to enhance the drug, vaccine, and diagnostic development pipeline is key.
Since October 2011, BVGH, in partnership with the World Intellectual Property Organization, has engaged researchers and private companies in more than 16 different discussions regarding tuberculosis product development. These discussions have resulted in several formal collaborations and numerous more in advanced stages of negotiation. These collaborations range from sharing of knowledge and expertise, to sharing compounds or compound libraries to screen against tuberculosis. Through these and future collaborations, BVGH strives to accelerate the development of better drugs, such as those that can be used in combination with ART, vaccines, such as those that prevent the various forms of tuberculosis infections, and diagnostics, such as rapid, point-of-care kits.
 
Do you know about the UNHLM declaration:

Specializations / Areas of Work

Advocacy
Research and Development

Other Organization Information

Total number of staff in your organization: 6 - 10
Number of full-time staff who are directly involved with TB: 1 - 5
Number of part-time staff who are directly involved with TB: 1 - 5
Number of volunteers who are directly involved with TB: 1 - 5
 
How did you hear about the Stop TB Partnership: Internet search
If you were informed or referred by another partner of the Stop TB Partnership please tell us who:
Why do you wish join the Stop TB Partnership: Resource mobilization
 
Are you a member of a Stop TB national partnership: No
Are you in contact with your national TB programme: No
Please tell us how your organization is contributing to your country's national TB control plan:
Identifying, proposing and building partnerships to accelerate research and development of new products to address TB.
 

Geographical Reach

Which country is your headquarters located in: United States of America
Which countries do you do operate in:
(This includes countries you are conducting activities in)
Australia
Brazil
Cameroon
Canada
Egypt
France
Ghana
India
Japan
Kenya
Mali
Nigeria
South Africa
Switzerland
Thailand
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
United States of America
Zimbabwe

Contribution

Please tell us how your organization will contribute to the Global Plan to Stop TB by briefly describing its involvement in any of the areas of work listed below:

New Diagnostics:
While, through the WIPO Re:Search consortium, BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH) has not formalized any agreements or obtained mutual interest in developing new tuberculosis diagnostics, BVGH continuously looks for new opportunities to engage researchers in partnerships focused on developing this essential, life-saving tool.

New TB Drugs:
Through the WIPO Re:Search consortium, BVGH works with researchers to identify collaboration opportunities of mutual interest and facilitates communication between these researchers to explore and establish partnerships. Many of these collaborations specifically involve research agreements to advance and accelerate the development of safer, more effective drugs for tuberculosis. Since October 2012, BVGH has facilitated three research agreements that directly involve the development of anti-tuberculosis drugs. These partnerships include sharing of expertise and advice to optimize natural product derived compounds, sharing data and providing insights into the development of another tuberculosis inhibitor, and computational chemistry support for a third group of tuberculosis drug candidates. Three additional partnerships are in advanced stages of negotiation, which will enable the sharing of various molecules, natural products, and other inhibitors to screen against tuberculosis. BVGH has established mutual interest in an additional four collaborations, which will also enable the sharing of compounds to test as potential new drugs against tuberculosis. Lastly, BVGH has also facilitated negotiations for researchers from South Africa to travel to a pharmaceutical company to gain experience running microbiological screens and data analysis for tuberculosis drug discovery. BVGH continues to identify and engage more tuberculosis researchers and facilitate partnerships between these researchers and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in order to advance research, thereby enhancing the tuberculosis drug R&D pipeline, which may result in the development of new, more effective tuberculosis drugs.

New TB Vaccines:
BVGH has also facilitated a collaboration involving the sharing of know-how for tuberculosis protein purification. This advice may help researchers to better purify these compounds, which may subsequently be used as a component of a tuberculosis vaccine. By assisting tuberculosis researchers, BVGH will help to maintain a robust tuberculosis vaccine development pipeline.

Fundamental Research:
BVGH has worked with researchers to facilitate discussions regarding partnerships involving basic and fundamental tuberculosis research. For example, BVGH has engaged researchers in negotiations regarding a collaboration utilizing technologies to examine pathways in host-pathogen interactions. In addition, BVGH has also begun facilitating discussions between researchers interested in examining specific tuberculosis enzymes, tuberculosis drug targets, or pathways, as well as the development of tuberculosis assays. By engaging researchers examining the basic molecular biology of the M. tuberculosis bacterium, BVGH is helping to advance the understanding of tuberculosis, which may facilitate the development of new tuberculosis products.

Declaration

Declaration of interests:
No conflicts of interest were delacred.

Application date: April 28, 2013
Last updated: August 12, 2013