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Biomedical Engineering Programs
Infectious diseases are at epidemic levels worldwide even though existing drugs and vaccines for many of those diseases are available. The mission of the DSS Foundation will be to become a leader in the following areas:
In particular, the DSS Foundation biomedical engineering initiatives will focus on :
- The discovery and development of inexpensive diagnostic tests for infectious diseases.
- Hepatitis B and C
- HIV/AIDS
- Cancers
- Other communicable infectious diseases
- The discovery and development of antibacterial and antiviral treatments that can be safely and inexpensively delivered orally.
- Clinical testing of the diagnostic tests and treatments and attainment of regulatory approval for distribution.
- Funding of the distribution of the diagnostic tests and treatments in areas of the world that cannot economically afford them.
There is an overwhelming worldwide need for inexpensive diagnostic tests and oral vaccines for the treatment of infectious diseases. Currently, most diagnostic tests and oral vaccine treatments for these diseases are not affordable under most health care systems. Also, most of the antigens necessary for immunization are not currently available in a cost-effective manner in many locales because of the need for basic medical personnel to give the vaccine by injection - which requires sterile needles, a medical infrastructure and reconstitution of the dry product.
Our mission is to develop new therapies that are ethical, cost effective and have been proven safe and effective in the laboratory but have not yet been brought to patient care for the reasons outlined above. The DSS Foundation has the exclusive rights to purchase approximately 60 patents to a variety of untested oral vaccines and treatments, which are currently through the animal testing stage, and are easily able to scale up for worldwide distribution. This would include vaccines orally delivered for virtually any infectious disease known to mankind including hepatitis B, anthrax, small pox, poliomyelitis, measles, mumps, diphtheria, tuberculosis and in the future most types of cancer, as well as human immunodeficiency virus immunization to prevent and treat AIDS.
The current estimate for clinically testing a patent and obtaining FDA approval for a vaccine or treatment is approximately $250 million. That means that it will cost the DSS Foundation approximately $15 billion to clinically test the patents and obtain the required approvals. An additional $10 billion would be required for the manufacturing and distribution of the vaccines and treatments to poverty-stricken areas of the world. Some of these costs would be defrayed by profits made on the distribution of the vaccines and treatments in the developed world.
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