InSpiritry

Around the world, there are thousands of people making InSpiritry a reality — they are working for the Greater Good in ways that inspire others to do the same. Their stories can empower us! Today’s InSpiritry story is about Dr. Victoria Hale, a social entrepreneur who is challenging the paradigm of the pharmaceutical world.

The story begins with Dr. Hale midway through her career as a pharmaceutical scientist. Like so many of us, Dr. Hale harbored a deep desire to use her knowledge and talents to make a difference in the world. As you will see, she has found a remarkable way to do just that.

As she worked on her research, Dr. Hale realized that though large pharmaceutical companies have successfully addressed many diseases and health conditions, other drug lines have been abandoned, especially those which are not profitable to develop or address diseases that only occur in poorer nations.

As she tells it, one day in a taxi cab it occurred to her that she could do something about that. Leaving the security of her job, Dr. Hale went in search of two things:

• Orphan diseases– those for which there were no good treatments and
• Orphan drugs — those whose development or sale had been halted.

Her hope, of course, was that there might be forgotten drugs which could be useful for persistent diseases. That hope was confirmed within a short time.

Dr. Hale heard about a disease in India called Kala-Azar or Black Fever. It killed almost all of its victims. She also discovered that a drug called paramomycin could be used to treat Black Fever, but it was not available. Dr. Hale had found the lock and key she needed to start a new kind of organization: the first non-profit pharmaceutical company in America. She would call it OneWorldHealth.

Her next task was to build on the existing research to find a way to manufacture paramomycin. Happily, she found a company, Amyris Biotechnology, that could make the drug. Better yet, they could make it inexpensively.

Visiting India along with representatives of the World Health Organization, Dr. Hale convinced the Indian government to allow a trial of the drug. The results in dying patients were so astounding and the drug so affordable that the Indian government offered to distribute the treatment to its people. In addition, Bill and Melinda Gates offered their support. The program is set to begin soon.

Victoria Hales’ work is notable on several levels:

• First, it is a reminder that science has at its core the advancement of humanity, the Greater Good…not simply, as we are often led to believe, the development of new products for market capitalists
• Second, in a courageous move, Dr. Hale left the security and prestige of her own status quo to be able to compassionately reach out to people in need, people she did not even yet know
• Third, the solution she had found came through innovative thinking and creative problem-solving, not domination of her competitors
• Finally, Dr. Hale is collaborating with for-profit companies, non-profit organizations, international governments and other social entrepreneurs to serve the global community.

And so, as we celebrate the story of Dr. Victoria Hale and OneWorldHealth, we can see the possibilities created by the strategies of InSpiritry: Compassion, Creativity, Collaboration, Consilience, Courage and Celebration.

What about you?

• What world dilemmas keep you up at night?
• How does your faith tradition or core values inform what you should do?
• What skills, talents, knowledge and connections could you put to work for others?
• What is keeping you from the dream of working for the Greater Good?

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Technorati Tags: Black Fever, OneWorldHealth, World Health Organization,  Gates Foundation,  India,  Amyris Biotechnology

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 27th, 2007 at 9:59 pm and is filed under InSpiration, Science, Marketplace, Organizations, Healthcare, Women, Peacework. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.