Changing drug research

This story from Reuters this morning - Gates Foundation billions change pharma landscape:

The billions of dollars thrown at global health problems by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are changing the game in drug discovery, posing big challenges to the world's top drugmakers, according to a report on Tuesday.

Pharmaceutical information group IMS Health Inc. said the emergence of megabuck philanthropy was both a threat and a collaboration opportunity for manufacturers.

"Pharma companies need to develop an explicit strategy to deal with this phenomenon," IMS said in its annual Intelligence.360 report on factors shaping the industry.

We have been watching with keen interest the various experiments in alternative research mechanisms. Looks like they are beginning to have an impact.