Research Focus

Developing world populations require solutions for disease that are remarkably different from those in industrialized nations. The simplest change in a therapy -- reformulating it in a way that doesn't require refrigeration, for example -- can mean the difference between whether a child in Sub-saharan Africa receives an effective drug.

MEND's research and development efforts are collectively defined by the intersection of three components:

• Diseases of Poverty: We focus primarily on Malaria, Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, (commonly known as the "three primary diseases of poverty") which collectively account for the deaths of over six million people a year, and approximately 10% of all global mortality. Advances in their treatment are far behind those of many diseases (such as heart disease and diabetes) with high prevalence in industrialized nations.
  
• Therapies: We focus on both Vaccines (usually for prevention of infection) and Drug Therapies for treatment of established disease.
  
• Advanced Delivery Technologies: We focus on the way that delivery technologies can be applied to vaccine or drug candidates (either those which are currently in the market, or those still in development) in order to make them viable, economical, or more useful to the people who most need them.