Exploring promising technologies
At the core of our work in health technologies is PATH’s health innovation portfolio, a collection of ideas being tested for their potential to solve unmet global health needs. Some ideas become projects, and some of those projects grow into solutions—like a new way to protect temperature-sensitive vaccines or a needle-free injector.
At this early stage, our work is framed in questions. In 2008, among many other questions, our scientists and technical experts asked:
- Can the latest in industrial-world battery technology extend the life of solar-powered refrigerators used to store vaccines in regions where electricity is unreliable at best?
- What is the technical feasibility of two promising approaches for diagnosing HIV in infants, in whom AIDS progresses with fatal rapidity if not treated within weeks after birth?
- Could radio-frequency tags be used to ensure that tuberculosis patients continue to take their medicine?
PATH has a well-established process of assessing these product concepts and identifying solutions with the best chance of success—ideas that are technologically strong, potentially marketable, and likely to be acceptable to health systems in these demanding environments. Our screening approach helps us quickly eliminate ideas that are unlikely to deliver on their promise—and identify others we can advance through testing, development, commercialization and, ultimately, widespread use.
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Information Mediary Corporation
Photo: PATH/Cornelius Brudi.