February 2006

She Cuts Deals to Wipe Out Malaria

After a varied career in the for-profit sector, Patricia Atkinson Roberts, MBA ’92, is a newcomer to nonprofits. As senior officer in charge of commercialization and corporate partnerships at the Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), she is the sole businessperson on a roster of health professionals seeking a solution to one of the world’s largest, most deadly health problems.

MVI, a branch of the international nonprofit health organization PATH, is involved in 10 projects to develop a vaccine for the parasitic disease that kills some 3 million people a year. The organization works with both government agencies and businesses, but Roberts deals mostly with the private sector, “because when it comes to actually putting these vaccine candidates on a commercial pathway, it requires industry expertise. We have development and commercial agreements with biotech companies and one big pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline. I negotiate all contracts with R&D partners and work on commercialization issues like demand modeling and on financing issues,” she says.

“We’re probably about five years away from the first generation of vaccine,” she says, adding that GlaxoSmithKline’s product is the most advanced candidate in MVI’s pipeline, having passed initial safety trials in Africa. “Our collaboration will continue after the launch of the product, but much of the work is pre-launch, to make sure it’s introduced quickly into countries and that the financing is in place so that it can be adopted into their immunization programs.

“A public-private partnership is a great place for an MBA background,” Roberts says. “I think it’s easier to adjust to than service nonprofits, and I think MBAs may be more well regarded there.”

Previous Spreadsheet || Next Spreadsheet