As the global access debate adapts to the stark inequities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN-backed Medicines Patent Pool is emerging as a key player on issues ranging from vaccine tech transfer to making more drugs affordable against the spread of non-communicable diseases like cancer to middle- and low-income countries.

Powered by prominent global health philanthropies and the UK’s world-class collaborative capabilities in disease surveillance, the new International COVID-19 Data Alliance (ICODA) is gearing up to address a crucial – and yet unanswered – policy question for public health:  can sharing data curated from a diversity of sources provide the hard evidence needed to improve patient outcomes against the virus – not just for today’s pandemic, but for future ones as well? Much will depend on a robust response from big pharma.

Venture capital funds in Latin America have overlooked biotech, leaving an untapped opportunity for local capital markets and US and European investors alike. Chilean entrepreneur Cristian Hernandez, founder of newly launched boutique VC Zentynel Frontier Investments, explains how business – and society – can benefit from launching biotech start-ups able to serve a global market at lower cost.

New drug development is an increasingly communal enterprise. In Vivo examines how one major US academic institution – the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) – is expanding its range of research contacts to open new areas of therapy and shorten the transition from bench to the bedside. 

New drug development is an increasingly communal enterprise. In Vivo examines how one major US academic institution – the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) – is expanding its range of research contacts to open new areas of therapy and shorten the transition from bench to the bedside.  Its commercial impact is considerable: over the past two decades, private-sector VC’s have invested more than $2bn in UCLA-backed innovations, with 26 start-ups launched through the university in 2019 alone. Amir Naiberg, UCLA’s point man on technology transfer, explains the factors that have made the university a successful advocate for partnerships that produce results for patients.

In this installment of VC Playbook, profiling venture capital strategies in biopharma and medtech, In Vivo talks to Sofinnova Partners' Graziano Seghezzi about market access trends, Italy’s growing biotech offering and the perils of “health nationalism” to business partnering in the aftermath of COVID-19.