Since 1999, Dr. Victoria Hale has dedicated herself full-time to finding practical solutions to bring safe and affordable treatments for neglected diseases to those who need them most in Asia and Africa. To achieve this goal, Dr. Hale founded OneWorld Health in July 2000.
Based in San Francisco, California, The Institute for OneWorld Health began as one among the world’s first non-profit pharmaceutical companies. A truly global organization, it serves people in the poorest parts of the world who have the greatest need for safe, affordable, and accessible medicines and treatments. Dr. Hale started with a small group of dynamic and passionate scientists who could identify promising drug leads and develop them into new medicines at a fraction of the usual cost. Since its organization’s inception, Dr. Hale’s team has led the world in developing new, safe, and affordable medicines for neglected infectious diseases of the developing world. The company intends to address the gap between global infectious diseases and pharmaceutical opportunities. By using existing drug research, conducting clinical trials overseas, and building innovative partnerships with both developing-world manufacturers and big pharmaceutical companies, OneWorld Health brings drugs to market for a fraction of the usual cost. The team has generated success after success. It has just completed testing in India a promising new and inexpensive treatment for visceral leishmaniasis. OneWorld Health and will seek regulatory approval in India in early 2006.
Though only five and a half years old, OneWorld Health has already scored major success and changed the face of tropical disease treatment. To start, Dr. Hale’s vision won over the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation among other funding partners. OneWorld Health has also begun forming alliances across the pharmaceutical industry, academia, government and non-government organizations to develop and deliver new therapies for the most neglected diseases. Dr. Hale has sparked a global dialogue to find solutions and cures. The world’s media, leading foundations, and top-tier university centers have recognized Dr. Hale’s contributions. A veritable honor roll of institutions and media according OneWorld Health citations and awards include the Schwab Foundation, Esquire, The Economist, and Scientific American. Dr. Hale and her team refuse to rest on their laurels. In early 2006, OneWorld Health submitted an application for paromomycin to the Indian regulatory agency for review and began setting up a satellite office in India. The organization has since identified more than two-dozen other promising infectious disease drug leads for further review and development.
An accomplished pharmaceutical scientist and mother, Dr. Victoria Hale has spent the last six years, and a significant amount of her personal savings, challenging one assumption: that lifesaving drugs simply cost too much to address diseases that afflict the developing world. Infectious diseases exert a devastating impact worldwide, and diseases such as visceral leishmaniasis, diarrheal disease, and malaria claim millions of lives in the poorest parts of the world and threaten billions more. Dr. Victoria Hale has accomplished the impossible. She has uncovered research sitting dormant in labs across the world for years and reviewed their potential. She has wooed the notoriously profit-conscious pharmaceutical industry, home to many of the best scientists and leads, and brought many on board. She has traveled the world seeking disease targets, drug leads, scientific partners, and funding sources with outstanding success. And with remarkable resilience and passion, Dr. Hale has created an organization, one of the world’s first non-profit pharmaceutical companies, to improve the lives of millions in the developing world. Thanks to Dr. Victoria Hale, millions will now have the opportunity to live healthy and disease-free lives.
To learn more about Dr. Victoria Hale and her cause, and how you can make a difference, please visit:
www.oneworldhealth.org.
Read More Hero Stories >
