Al Jazeera America: The kissing bug disease and the woman who would stop it
“…Despite its success and potential for adaptation, however, [a newly formulated insecticide paint, Inesfly, developed in 1995 by a Spanish chemist named Pilar Mateo,] is still not a widely used tool for combating the spread of Chagas. … Mateo decided not to partner with a large pharmaceutical company to bring Inesfly to market because, she says, ‘I didn’t want profit motives dictating how this important tool was brought to the world.’ Her decision has forced her onto a difficult path that exposes critical fault lines in global public health: a pay-to-play regulatory system that critics say purports to encourage innovation but that can inhibit the development of promising new methods to prevent and fight disease. Rather than fostering new ways to rid the world of terrible diseases, our global health structure sometimes hinders it…” (Friedman-Rudovsky, 12/9).