At Tri-I, we have begun a campaign to generate interest on both the research and access gaps by first teaching ourselves the principles and nuances of the issues involved and subsequently reaching out to the campus at large.

The Tri-I group is based in New York City and is chiefly composed of medical and biomedical graduate students. The three institutions compose a single campus but have separate administrative heads and offices. Our sister group is led by Jocelyn Getgen (Cornell Law) based in Ithaca, NY.

–Teaching Ourselves: Biomedical Investigators and TTO’s as Resources

To better understand the issues involved and to relieve ourselves of previous misconceptions we have utilized a rich supply of advisors in the city.

We hosted John Moore, a noted Cornell HIV/AIDS researcher last winter, to discuss his research in generating a novel anti-HIV microbicide following its publication (see below). Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) donated active ingredients used in the microbicides Moore developed. Moore later helped negotiate a deal with Merck and BMS and a public:private partnership (International Partnership of Microbicides, IPM). Under this deal, Merck and BMS granted IPM royalty-free licenses to develop, manufacture and distribute the compounds for use in developing world.

See:
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/051024/full/051024-13.html
http://www.ipm-microbicides.org/news_room/english/press_releases/2005/2005_1031_bms.htm

Last Friday, we met with Tari Suprapto a member of the Technology Transfer office of The Rockefeller University. The meeting was our first formal meeting with a TTO here. The main objective of our meeting was to initiate a relationship with the Rockefeller TTO and secondly to review the details of technology transfer. To this end, we covered the process of technology transfer (from bench to bedside) and examined standard licenses issued by universities to licensees. Tari is a member of the group Technology Managers for Global Health (TMGH; www.tmgh.org) and is an active member of AUTM.

Tari was previously aware of UAEM; she is sympathetic to our concerns and actively willing to advise us in the future as we develop.
Tari encouraged UAEM members to attend AUTM and Licensing Executive Society (www.les.org) meetings to further understand the process and develop our network. She invited us to a workshop she is moderating on Friday, May 12th at 10:30 am at the LES/AUTM spring meeting in Philadelphia. The title is “Perspectives and Issues in Global Health Licensing” and it will showcase the Bayer/TB Alliance deal for moxifloxacin.

– Tri-Institutional Awareness: Notable Speakers
This past Wednesday, Tri-I UAEM hosted Dai
Ellis, project manager for the Clinton Foundations’ HIV/AIDS Initiative and Yale UAEM member at an institution-wide colloquium (David Rogers Health Policy series) entitled “”How low can we go? Driving down the price of anti-retroviral therapy in the developing world.” Senior physicians, chairmen of medical departments, medical and graduate students and house staff attended. Dai’s impressive presentation regarding his work lead to a lengthy Q & A session in which several attendees (students and faculty) expressed interest in the issues raised. Several remained to chat afterwards. We will follow-up with private meetings with interested parties.

In May, we will host Kate Evans, Director of MSF’s US Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines at a similar colloquium. Her presentation will concern the role of the university in increasing access to university-inspired research therapeutics and biologicals.

– Student & Faculty Outreach: Student Assembly
We hope to raise awareness of the issues by bringing the debate to the fore among students. We submitted a resolution to the Cornell medical student governing, the - Medical Student Executive Council (MSEC). MSEC will host an institutional-wide open assembly on the substance of the resolution in late April or May and then vote. We hope to draft similar resolutions to analogous Rockefeller and Sloan-Kettering student governing bodies.

We are in process of identifying faculty publicly sympathetic to UAEM mission. We are drafting a letter to administration and faculty.

Cheers,

Sunny Kishore
Cornell / Rockefeller / Sloan Kettering Tri-I
Sunny.kishore[at]gmail.com