Bill and Melinda Gates Enter Drug Development Industry

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation started a well-funded nonprofit biotechnology research institute in Boston.

Penny Heaton, new head of Gates' nonprofit biotech, in Ghana in 2006. / Image: Penny Heaton
Penny Heaton, new head of Gates' nonprofit biotech, in Ghana in 2006. / Image: Penny Heaton

A June 7th Forbes article discussed the latest medical-minded development from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Apparently over the past year, their team has developed a nonprofit biotechnology company in Boston. Not surprisingly, the team has the financial resources to hopefully do some more good in the world, starting with a $100 million budget and a team that’s expected to soon grow to 100.

The foundation’s new effort is called The Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute, and it hosted an event last week to outline their goals. This included plans to develop new medicines and vaccines that for conditions that plague mainly children in developing countries, such as malaria, tuberculosis, and diarrhea. The new institute will not be staffed with academics, but rather veterans of the pharmaceutical industry.

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