Editor's pick of the month:

December, 2008 An article in New York Times on Michael J. Fox Foundation’s sustained efforts on unraveling the mysteries of Parkinson’s disease set us looking for more such efforts/contributions by non-profit organizations on drug research.    To our pleasant surprise, a dip-stick survey shows that such private-public activities and funding in the area of disease / drug research is quite a handful, and their efforts are not without results.   These initiatives are targeting a variety of areas from specific diseases like Parkinson’s by the Michael Fox Foundation or International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and TB alliance  to much wider-focused ones like Wellcome Trust, Program for Appropriate Technology in Heatlh (PATH), Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) and Institute of One World Health .  A drug discovery news article on “Solution for the developing world” gives an insight into the efforts by such organizations.  A paper published in Drug Discovery Today in April 2008 looks at the “Impact of Non profit organizations on drug discovery; opportunities, gaps, solutions” by Matter A, Keller TH.   Apart from these initiatives, there are those foundations floated by individuals such as Gates Foundation’s Global health program or Clinton Foundation’s HIV/AIDS initiative.   This list is far from complete and does not cover more local and targeted ones.   But it does give an idea about the efforts by the various not-for-profit organizations on drug/disease research.  Though the fruits of their labour is yet to be reaped, it does give hope; Hope for a world of available and affordable medical care!   To read all articles previously featured under 'Editor's pick of the month' please click here  Editor's pick archives