Founded in 2006
Finding simple solutions for developing countries using advanced technology.
Mintaka seeks to identify and then solve health problems of the developing
world that correspond to two criteria: the search for a solution should
involve high technology, but once found, the solution must be capable of
being adapted to the economic and social circumstances of developing countries.
Mintaka is currently looking at three problems:
- Women in the developing world are most at risk from infection by HIV/AIDS,
but often have no way to protect themselves. More than 50% of infections
take place among women and young girls, nearly all in poor countries.
For many reasons, few are protected by condom use. To prevent infection,
substances (“microbicides”) are urgently needed in the form
of a cream or foam to be applied to the genital mucosa before sex. Mintaka
has several clinical candidates in late stages of laboratory development.
- There are few children in rich countries infected by HIV and so there
are no suitable drug formulations for the millions of infected children
in poor countries. In conjunction with the School of Engineering in
Geneva and the Connaught Clinic, Harare, Zimbabwe, Mintaka has a pilot
study addressing a problem in the administration of conventional tri-therapy
drugs to infected children in the developing world.
- Haemorrhage after childbirth is the world’s largest single
cause of maternal death. This is one of the most flagrant inequalities
in health care between rich and poor. It may be partly due to the fact
that the drug of choice, oxytocin, degrades in a hot climate, and Mintaka
is studying a possible need to create heat-stable forms of the molecule.
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