UBC engages in many projects with potential global access impacts, and many of these receive support from the UILO. The examples below highlight UBC research activities and technologies that are providing access to crucial discoveries where they are needed most.

Leishmaniasis

Vancouver company, iCo Therapeutics Inc., has partnered with UBC to advance Dr. Kishor Wasan's new formulation of Amphotericin B for the treatment of leishmaniasis and other fungal infections. In developed countries, fungal infections are a leading contributor to death among immunocompromised individuals (e.g. cancer and AIDS patients). In the developing world, leishmaniasis is contracted by 2 million people a year. Dr. Wasan's formulation, being developed to be taken orally without serious side-effects, will be a significant improvement on the current treatment which is expensive, can only be administered by injection and is highly toxic. This makes the technology ideal for application in the developing world, and our commercialization agreement with iCo ensures that development of the formulation will embrace our global access objectives.

Since entering into this partnership:

• iCo announced positive preclinical data relating to the oral amphotericin formulation licensed from UBC.  Significant antifungal activity was seen at dosage levels where no kidney toxicity was observed, and the formulation displayed a dramatic knock-down of a parasitic infection that causes Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL), with greater than 99% eradication of parasitic infection at the tested dosages.
• In April 2009, iCo and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) established the Research Chair in Drug Delivery for Neglected Global Diseases held by Dr. Kishor Wasan.
• In September 2009, iCo entered a partnership with Gates Foundation funding recipients, The Consortium for Parasitic Drug Development, with initial funding  targeted at formulation optimization for tropical conditions.

Pre-eclampsia Monitoring

The UILO was also active in 2007/08 in providing support to the research of Drs. Peter von Dadelszen and Laura Magee into models to improve the prediction and monitoring  pre-eclampsia, a disorder that occurs during pregnancy and the post-partum period, in the developing world. After the technology was disclosed, the UILO established funding agreements with CIHR and the World Health Organization, and set up collaborations at medical sites in Uganda, Fiji and South Africa to test the model to alert the doctor when delivery should be initiated so that risks to mother and baby – considerably higher in the developing world where maternal fatalities are more common – are minimized.

A $7-million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced in 2010 is supporting a four-year international research and community-level intervention project called PRE-eclampsia-Eclampsia Monitoring, Prevention and Treatment (PRE-EMPT), being led by Dr. Peter von Dadelszen, a professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology in UBC’s Faculty of Medicine and co-director of the Reproduction & Healthy Pregnancy research cluster at the Child & Family Research Institute.

Pre-eclampsia, a hypertensive disorder, is the second leading cause of maternal death worldwide, resulting in up to 76,000 maternal deaths each year, and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than 500,000 fetuses and newborns die annually due to pre-eclampsia. The PRE-EMPT project, building on previous work carried out by von Dadelszen to develop a model to predict life-threatening maternal complications of pre-eclampisa, will test new strategies for the monitoring, prevention, and treatment of the condition.

Led by Dr. von Dadelszen, the team, consisting of UBC Nursing Adjunct Professor Diane Sawchuck and researchers, physicians and community health professionals from Canada, the U.S., Africa, Asia, Oceania, the U.K. and the WHO, will study, develop and implement a set of clinical guidelines tailored for low- and middle-income countries. The underlying cause and potential new community-based treatments for pre-eclampsia will also be investigated.

Peruvian Food Security

Greater food security in the impoverished Andean regions of Peru is the focus of a University of British Columbia-Peruvian study led by UBC Faculty of Land and Food Systems Profs. Andrew Riseman, Eduardo Jovel and Judy McLean, along with Manuel Ruiz, Peruvian Society for Environmental Law and Roberto Ugás, Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina.

The 42-month initiative aims to increase the effectiveness of organic farming in two regions of the Peruvian Andes (Cusco and Cajamarca) known for their high biodiversity and active farmers' associations.  Focusing on staple crops such as potatoes and small Andean tuber crops, the project intends to improve farm productivity and will also focus on social processes, including innovation, traditional knowledge, and linkages between organizations, policy, and advocacy. Funded by a $3.4m investment by the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFSRF www.idrc.ca/cifsrf ), a collaborative program between Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA www.acdi-cida.gc.ca), the project will also develop and enhance market access for organic products in the region to help increase farmers' incomes and food security.

Sustainable Fertilizer

Under the direction of Professors Don Mavinic and Jim Atwater, Elizabeth Tilley did a master’s degree at UBC, investigating urine separation and the recovery of a product called struvite for use as a fertilizer. As a Bridge Fellow she completed an internship at Eawag in Switzerland, where she stayed on as a researcher focused on developing countries.

At Eawag, Tilley was instrumental in setting up a struvite pilot plant in Nepal, based partly on UBC research discoveries, which allowed villagers to produce fertilizer locally. Now undertaking a PhD in Switzerland, Tilley will be working on an Eawag project in Durban, South Africa funded through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and will investigate the economic aspects related to the production of struvite from urine. Tilley and Dr. Mavinic plan to continue working together, with many opportunities for future collaboration in providing developing world access to valuable fertilizer.