September 22, 2016

expert reaction to announcement by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative ‘to cure, prevent or manage all diseases by the end of the century’

Mark Zuckerberg (the founder of Facebook) and his wife Priscilla Chan have pledged $3bn over the next decade to fund medical research with the ultimate goal to “cure, prevent or manage all diseases by the end of the century”.

Prof. Paul Reiter, recently retired Professor of Medical Entomology at the Pasteur Institute, said:

“Congratulations to the Zuckerbergs! Naysayers will be quick to criticise “philanthropicapitalism” but Gates, Wellcome and other funding agencies have made a tremendous contribution to medical science, particularly in neglected tropical diseases and malaria.

“Obviously there is a large potential for overlap with Bill & Melinda Gates and similar foundations; perhaps they will put their heads together to maximise joint impact.

“There are those who criticise that by selecting targets for research, Gates’s money has too much control over the path of research. To me, this is part sour-grapes and part partially true! But the overall benefit to science is tremendous. An effective team of advisors and perhaps a more democratic approach for approving funding should minimise this problem.

“I hope they can give special attention to the ‘way out’ ideas, those that are on the fringes of or beyond the accepted paradigm. It takes energy to SHIFT the paradigm!

“My mind goes to important organizations impoverished by lack of funding. The World Health Organisation, for example, gets constant criticism—much of it justified— yet few realize the contribution they make in orchestrating research despite having to scrabble for every penny. Energetic funding combined with a mechanism for quality control would be a great contribution to global health.”

Dr Clare Taylor, Senior Lecturer in Medical Microbiology at Edinburgh Napier University, said:

“The commitment to support scientific innovation made by Priscilla Chan and her husband Mark Zuckerberg is warmly welcomed. Health inequality and the threat of infectious disease, is one of our most urgent scientific areas of need, and this fund will support vital collaborative research that will help us to deliver rapid diagnostics and therapies.”

Dr Jim Smith, deputy chief executive and chief of strategy at the Medical Research Council, said:

“The fantastic generosity and ambition of this initiative has been matched by some very wise thinking about how the money could be best spent. It’s exciting to see a real understanding of the importance of basic discovery science in transforming medical treatment.

“I also applaud the intention to create new tools and technologies to fight disease, and the multidisciplinary approach where medical researchers, engineers, chemists and other scientists work together to solve problems – something we are doing more and more of in the UK.

“I hope the initiative will be as successful as the Gates Foundation in stretching its influence way beyond California to bring together the best minds from the best organisations throughout the world.”

Prof. John Hardy FMedSci, Professor of Neuroscience at UCL, said:

“Of course it is wonderful that Chan and Zuckerberg are using their money for such good causes. If, like Gates, they also put their own time and energy into this endeavour, that will be doubly valuable.

“It is worth noting that, dollar for dollar, UK medical research is second to none. I hope we can convince them that this makes UK science a good investment.”

Prof. Trudie Lang, Director of the Global Health Network at the University of Oxford, said:

“This is a bold and exciting announcement from the Zuckerbergs. ‘Curing all diseases’ is an incredibly ambitious aim – but why not set that goal? Bill Gates describes himself as an impatient optimist and it takes highly determined people like Gates and Zuckerberg to enable such enterprise as this that could really bring true change in our ability to treat and manage the most devastating diseases.

“It is very encouraging for us researchers that the Zuckerbergs are recognizing that investment in science is needed to address disease. Most early mortality in children happens in the poorest countries in the world and is caused by infection. We need to understand these pathogens better, learning about how they spread and cause the harm in order to work out the best treatment and prevention strategies.

“Right now 90% of the spend on research benefits just 10% of the global population but hopefully this could address that gap and could make a real difference in tackling diseases of poverty, which is where the research effort is needed. It is also encouraging that they spoke of both infectious and non-infectious disease because we need to tackle the increasing problems associated with non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and obesity. These also need a strong research effort to learn where prevention, management and treatment can make a difference.”

Dr Mario Raviglione, Director of the Global TB Programme for the World Health Organization in Geneva, said:

“This is a fantastic development. My hope is simply that diseases of poverty that are currently neglected in terms of investments and engagement by the pharmaceutical and biological companies be part of this new initiative. Research and development, starting from discovery and up to the operational implementation research that makes new tools applicable immediately where they are needed, are fundamental to control and end epidemics.

“The example of tuberculosis comes to mind immediately: this is the Number One infectious killer, killing more than HIV/AIDS, malaria and all other infectious diseases. Likewise, we are losing day after day antibiotics for the most common infections: microbes are going faster than humans and we risk getting back to the pre-antibiotic era. Yet, investments in research in TB or antimicrobials are far from what they should be. The new initiative has a chance to transform the field.”

Dr Jeremy Farrar, Director of the Wellcome Trust, said:

“I’d like to congratulate Mark and Priscilla for starting such an ambitious venture to understand health and disease, which resonates strongly with Wellcome’s mission. Science and research are critical to the challenge of better health, and need the support and stimulus that philanthropic initiatives like this bring.

“Wellcome aims to spend £5 billion over the next five years on our mission of improving health by helping great ideas to thrive, and welcome the fresh impetus to science and research that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will bring.”

Declared interests

None declared