Philanthropies as partners for drug development in public-private partnerships

Disease-focused philanthropic organizations play an increasing role in the strategy and conduct of biomedical research, with many focusing on drug development for specific diseases and patient populations. More and more they not only provide resources and expertise, but also take active part managing the strategy and objectives of targeted research programs, using approaches such as venture philanthropy. Many also lead and participate in public–private partnerships. One example is the partnership between the Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) Foundation and the Critical Path Institute (C-Path) which brings together several pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions to develop new broadly-used biomarkers. Another case is the partnership between JDRF (formerly known as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) and the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), involving financial support of the IMIDIA project (Innovative Medicines Initiative for Diabetes) which is focused on improving beta-cell function and identifying biomarkers for diabetes treatment monitoring. These examples show that in addition to providing financial support and expertise, philanthropic foundations are also in a unique position to coordinate the patient and research communities to enable and accelerate specific medicines development projects.