That's where BIO Ventures for Global Health aims to come in. In some ways, the group is built on a model that the Rockefeller and Gates foundations have already spent years developing.
The foundations have financed several piecemeal ventures aimed at tackling the business problems -- usually by directly subsidizing some of the testing and development work that private investors won't finance. Several of these ventures, such as initiatives to create new malaria medicines or AIDS vaccines, have achieved research milestones, though none has yet put a major product on the market.
Although the organizers of BIO Ventures for Global Health don't argue with the piecemeal approach, they say they see a need for a more systematic effort to identify potentially useful technologies, help companies devise business plans and persuade foundations and other donors to put up big money to finance the work.
The Gates and Rockefeller foundations were persuaded enough by the argument to contribute more than $1 million for start-up costs. "We are fully behind it," said Richard D. Klausner, director of global health for the Gates Foundation. "We believe there's a pressing need for products for the developing world for global health. It's an enormous set of opportunities, particularly for small companies."
It is unclear how much money will be forthcoming from his foundation or other donors. Perhaps the biggest single need is financing for late-stage trials that can provide definitive evidence that a new drug or vaccine works. Such tests can cost hundreds of millions.
The Gates foundation, with more than $20 billion in assets, has that kind of money, but Klausner emphasized that each proposed deal will be subjected to rigorous scrutiny to make sure it serves charitable ends. "I don't want to be pinned down" about the sums the Gates foundation might commit, he said.
Although some medicines might find markets only in poor countries, others have dual uses in the developed and developing worlds. That could be the case with Avant's cholera vaccine.
Vaccines already exist for cholera, an intestinal ailment spread through poor sanitation that can kill children rapidly. But the vaccines are so mediocre, offering only a few months of protection at best, that they aren't widely used. Early studies suggest Avant's vaccine might work better.
Aside from its obvious potential in countries afflicted by cholera outbreaks, the vaccine could find a paying market among travelers or aid workers worried about cholera. That means there's some chance private investors can be persuaded to finance part of the work, if foundations also finance a chunk of it.
Early tests in Bangladesh have drawn support from a vaccine institute backed by Gates foundation money, but far more expensive tests loom.
Avant is likely to be one of the first in line when BIO Ventures for Global Health opens its doors.
"If I could get help that would allow me quicker access to my real markets, where I could charge a traveler $50 or something, I am quite willing to give away my rights and see a plant in a developing country make our vaccines" for low-profit overseas markets, Ryan said. "We are willing to do some charity here, in exchange for something that would actually move our products forward."
