Institute for OneWorld Health

The Institute for OneWorld Health is a nonprofit pharmaceutical company founded in 2000 to develop safe, effective, and affordable new medicines for people with infectious diseases in the developing countries.

Drug development efforts
Currently, two drugs are under development a drug to treat Chagas disease in Latin America and a drug to cure visceral leishmaniasis in India. Paromomycin, the drug being developed to treat visceral leishmaniasis, was granted orphan drug status in 2005 by both the FDA and EMEA. Prior to this approval, Phase 3 clinical trials for this indication were conducted in India in 2003&mdash;2004. The overall conclusion was that efficacy and side effects were similar to the comparison agent in the trials, amphotericin B, results which in August 2006 led to approval for treatment of visceral leishmaniasis by the Indian government.

Executives

 * Dr. Victoria Hale Ph.D., CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors.
 * Dr. Ahvie Herskowitz M.D., COO and Chief Medical Officer.

Major supporters

 * Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (the Institute received 96% of its funding from the Foundation as of 2006)
 * Amgen, Chiron Corporation, Gap, Lehman Brothers, Pfizer, Vital Spark Foundation, Skoll Foundation