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posted by martyb on Friday June 15 2018, @08:52AM   Printer-friendly
from the saving-lives-is-good-business dept.

The Gates Foundation rolls outs details of its new biotech, one without a profit motive

There's a new biotech in town. And it doesn't care about making money. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has spun out a nonprofit biotech offspring, the Bill and Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute. With funding of $273 million for its first four years, the organization is in an enviable position.

"We don't have to worry about revenue, return on investment. Our bottom line is lives saved. So it's a pretty exciting place to be," Dr. Penny Heaton, the institute's CEO, explained in an interview with STAT this week. Though the institute opened its doors — in temporary space in Cambridge, Mass. — in early January, Heaton introduced it to the biotech world on Thursday at the BIO International Convention in Boston.

The institute's focus is on diseases that disproportionately affect the poor: malaria, tuberculosis, and enteric diseases. The latter are diseases — caused by viruses, bacteria, or parasites — that attack the digestive system. They can cause life-threatening, even fatal bouts of diarrhea, disrupt nutrient absorption, and stunt development.


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  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday June 15 2018, @09:27AM (1 child)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Friday June 15 2018, @09:27AM (#693402) Journal

    The institute's focus is on diseases that disproportionately affect the poor: ... and enteric diseases. The latter are diseases — caused by viruses, bacteria, or parasites — that attack the digestive system. They can cause life-threatening, even fatal bouts of diarrhea, disrupt nutrient absorption, and stunt development.

    They'll study shit!

    Literally but not exclusively, to be precise

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @09:55AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 15 2018, @09:55AM (#693411)

    Gates gives the poor something for free... and it's a faecal transplant!