Bill Gates Speech at Beijing Global Health Drug Discovery Instit

在全球健康藥物發現研究所的講話

https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/speeches/2023/06/bill-china-ghddi-innovation

比爾·蓋茨 2023年6月15日

 

謝謝你的精彩介紹，也謝謝大家的光臨。 我們的基金會致力於通過支持世界各地的尖端研發來改善人們的生活——我們與 GHDDI 的合作夥伴關係是其中的重要組成部分。

 

我特別要歡迎今天來到這裏的創新者、學生和年輕研究人員。 當我想象如果你充分利用科學和技術的力量來幫助找到解決世界上最大的健康挑戰的方法時你將產生的影響，我深受鼓舞。 瘧疾、結核病和被忽視的熱帶病等疾病常常被製藥公司忽視，因為它們對最貧困人口的影響尤為嚴重。

 

我來中國已經很久了——四年。 那時的世界看起來很不一樣。 很多人對 2023 年的未來信心不如 2019 年。過去四年，世界麵臨著大流行病、傳染病卷土重來、氣候變化影響加劇，部分地區 世界，一場饑餓危機。 有意義地應對這些挑戰的需求從未如此緊迫。 中國在減少貧困和改善國內健康狀況方麵取得了重大進展。 我希望中國能夠在應對當前挑戰，特別是非洲國家麵臨的挑戰方麵發揮更大作用。

 

盡管世界麵臨挑戰，但我仍然保持樂觀，原因有二：

 

首先，如果你稍稍回頭想想過去的幾十年，而不是幾年，你會看到一個更大的模式——當世界優先考慮健康公平時出現的驚人進步模式。 我最喜歡的例子與兒童死亡率有關，因為我想不出比拯救兒童生命更重要的事情了。

 

1990 年，將近十分之一的兒童會在 5 歲之前死亡——他們大多數生活在低收入和中低收入國家，而且大多數死於可預防的傳染病。 現在，僅僅一代人之後，兒童死亡率顯著下降，每 25 名兒童中就有 1 人死亡。 每年有超過 750 萬名兒童得救。

 

在中國，同期死亡的幼兒數量下降了驚人的 94%。 簡而言之，世界已經證明，當我們設定雄心勃勃的目標並專注於實現這些目標時，我們可以取得怎樣的成就。

 

我樂觀的第二個原因是，科學技術解決真正難題的潛力從未如此巨大。 mRNA 疫苗技術可能使結核病和瘧疾等疾病的疫苗成為可能。 為了對抗這些疾病，我們需要新的更好的預防方案。 正如我之前所說，我相信包括人工智能在內的技術進步將在醫療保健和教育領域帶來快速突破，確保更多人獲得救生工具並獲得更多機會。 氣候技術的創新——包括從更清潔的發電和儲能方式到綠色鋼鐵和水泥的進步——將使世界減少排放成為可能，而不會限製人們獲得負擔得起的、豐富的清潔能源。

 

所有這些創新——以及更多創新——可以讓我們有能力應對擺在我們麵前的挑戰。

 

世界前所未有地聯係在一起。 考慮氣候。 它正在發生變化，因為富裕國家的人們數百年來一直在做的事情，但到目前為止，它對低收入國家的人們造成的傷害最大——盡管他們是對這個問題貢獻最少的人 . 許多這些國家目前的糧食危機是由千裏之外的歐洲戰爭引發的。

 

所以我一直在問自己的問題是，我們如何利用科學和創新的力量來真正加快進步？

 

答案是我們可以通過確保每個人都發揮作用來做到這一點。 為了解決我們社區麵臨的日益複雜的挑戰，並建設一個所有人都有機會過上健康和富有成效的生活的未來，我們必須匯集全球的專業知識。 這意味著應對氣候變化和持續的發展需求——兩者都需要創新和獨創性。

 

如果沒有社會各方——政府、學術界、企業和慈善機構——的參與，這些挑戰是無法解決的。

 

這些部門中的每一個都非常擅長某些事情，而不擅長其他事情。 科學家們做出了巧妙的發現，但通常是企業將這些發現轉化為人們實際使用的產品和服務。 有了正確的政策，政府可以確保這些解決方案惠及每個人。 慈善事業可以在市場無法推動創新的情況下推動創新，並將不同的組織聚集在一起，為共同利益服務。 當所有這些部門合作時，整體大於其部分之和。

 

中國創新者在這些全球合作夥伴關係中可以發揮重要作用。 中國在健康、農業、營養和減貧方麵取得的成功可以為中國分享寶貴的經驗。 它有天賦。 在全國各地的實驗室、初創公司和教室裏，像你們中的許多人一樣的年輕人正在努力創造未來的解決方案：

 

治療結核病和瘧疾等老病的新藥，用於擴大高度定製化醫療保健和教育的數字模型，可以在惡劣天氣下茁壯成長的作物，如氣候智能型雜交水稻品種，

提高人們生活質量但不改變氣候的技術，包括輸電、農業和建築材料的新方法。在接下來的幾分鍾裏，我想談談我認為世界有望取得進步的兩個領域。 衛生和農業。

 

正如您在 GHDDI 非常了解的那樣，我們基金會關注的一件事是一個沒有瘧疾的世界，瘧疾仍然每分鍾殺死一個孩子。 即使是該統計數據也低估了這種疾病的影響，因為它每年使大約 2.5 億人病入膏肓。

 

絕大多數瘧疾病例發生在非洲，但情況並非總是如此。 20 世紀 50 年代，中國每年至少有 3000 萬例瘧疾病例，超過 30 萬人死於瘧疾。 但隨後病例和死亡人數開始穩步下降，部分原因是中國科學家取得了突破。 其中之一是屠呦呦，他的開創性工作導致了今天對瘧疾的領先治療——並獲得了諾貝爾獎。 2010年，中國啟動了《全國消除瘧疾行動計劃》。 2017年首次實現本地零感染。 並於 2021 年獲得世界衛生組織無瘧疾認證。

 

這是一項了不起的成就。 但中國科學家所做的不僅僅是幫助消除國內的瘧疾。 他們通過開發下一代解決方案來幫助在全球範圍內根除瘧疾，從而鞏固這一傳統。

 

想想這裏發生的突破性工作。 我們對 GHDDI 正在與兩個國際組織 Medicines for Malaria Venture 和 Malaria Drug Accelerator 合作開發的一種瘧疾候選藥物感到特別興奮。

 

這種候選藥物仍在實驗室中進行研究，但到目前為止它顯示出不同尋常的前景，原因有以下三個。 首先，導致瘧疾的寄生蟲對當今的許多藥物產生了耐藥性，這意味著它們不再像以前那樣有效。 但這個候選藥物似乎是我們所說的“不可抗拒”，因此它有可能在很長一段時間內繼續有效。

 

其次，人們需要服用目前的藥物三天——但他們並不總是堅持並完成整個療程。 這種新的候選藥物可能隻需一次劑量就能治愈這種疾病。

 

第三，看起來這個候選藥物不僅可以治療疾病，而且可以首先預防感染。

 

在該候選藥物成為人們可以服用的實際藥物之前還有很長的路要走，但我們預計該候選藥物將在未來幾年內在人體中進行臨床試驗。

 

我不僅對這個候選藥物感到興奮。 GHDDI 與國際結核病研究和開發組織建立了重要的合作關係，並取得了令人振奮的成果。 一係列新型化合物已被證明與實驗室現有的結核病藥物具有協同作用。 承諾是一個更短的結核病治療方案——從標準的 4 到 6 個月縮短到僅 1 到 2 個月。 如果藥物在臨床試驗中證明有效，這將對減少傳播和疾病負擔產生影響。

 

真正令我興奮的是世界各地機構進行的所有尖端全球衛生研發的潛在累積影響。 全球創新者社區越能專注於世界麵臨的最大挑戰，就越有人能茁壯成長。

 

GHDDI 專注於抗擊疾病，但中國也有傑出的研究人員致力於其他將決定人們未來生活質量的重要優先事項，例如幫助農民適應氣候變化並確保每個人都有足夠的食物 世界。

 

一直讓我著迷的是培育出世界上第一個雜交水稻品種的袁隆平。 他的研究不僅改變了中國農業和中國經濟。 它還幫助養活了世界。 他的工作啟發了全球最重要的農業研究組織 CGIAR 加大對水稻研究的投資。 袁還教授了來自 50 多個國家的 3,000 多名水稻科學家，他們將從他那裏學到的知識應用到本國。 很難想象還有比讓數十億人得以生存和繁榮的發現更重要的了。

 

現在我們需要下一代的發現。 蓋茨基金會一直在支持中國科學家開發能夠在惡劣天氣（包括台風）中茁壯成長的雜交水稻品種，正如我們在 2014 年在菲律賓看到的那樣。巴基斯坦最近采用了新品種，將產量提高了三分之一以上。

 

但由於種種原因，新水稻品種在非洲國家並沒有以同樣的方式流行起來。 因此，該基金會支持中國和西非水稻科學家之間的合作。 他們不僅致力於培育適應當地條件的新品種——他們還與當地合作夥伴合作，確保農民能夠獲得這些新品種，從而適應不斷變化的氣候。 在試點中，一些西非國家的收益率高達 50%。

 

這個例子再次強調了夥伴關係的影響。 如果沒有中國團隊及其在水稻育種方麵的豐富經驗和專業知識，該項目將無法開展。 但如果沒有非洲團隊以及他們對當地農民和當地糧食係統的了解，它也不會奏效。 這是我們應該在各地努力爭取的合作模式。

 

這些隻是我內心深處的兩個例子。 該基金會正在與中國合作夥伴一起致力於許多其他優先事項：例如，根除小兒麻痹症； 診斷、預防和治療艾滋病毒和結核病； 開發更實惠、更可持續的下一代衛生技術。

 

我希望你們現在都比我開始講話時更加樂觀。 我希望您能具體考慮您可以做什麽以及與誰一起來促進解決世界麵臨的最緊迫挑戰的方法。

 

我渴望看到 GHDDI、中國乃至世界各地的創新者如何在未來幾年為全球進步做出貢獻。

 

謝謝。

Remarks at the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute

https://www.gatesfoundation.org/ideas/speeches/2023/06/bill-china-ghddi-innovation

Bill Gates  June 15, 2023 

Thank you for that nice introduction and thank you all for being here. Our foundation is committed to improving people’s lives by supporting cutting-edge R&D around the world—and our partnership with GHDDI is a big part of that.

I especially want to welcome the innovators, students and young researchers here today. I’m inspired when I imagine the impact you will have if you fully harness the power of science and technology to help find solutions to the world’s biggest health challenges. Diseases like malaria, TB, and neglected tropical diseases are often overlooked by pharmaceutical companies because they disproportionately affect the poorest people.

It’s been a long time since I was in China—four years. The world looked very different then. A lot of people are less confident about the future in 2023 than they were in 2019. In the past four years, the world has faced a pandemic, a resurgence of infectious diseases, the worsening impact of climate change, and in some parts of the world, a hunger crisis. The need to meaningfully address these challenges has never been more urgent. China has made significant gains reducing poverty and improving health outcomes within China. I'm hopeful China can play an even bigger role in addressing the current challenges, particularly those facing African countries.

Despite the challenges the world faces I am still optimistic, for two reasons:

First, if you pull back just a bit and think about the past several decades, instead of years, you see a larger pattern—a pattern of amazing progress that occurred when the world prioritized health equity. My favorite example has to do with child mortality, because I can’t think of anything more important than saving children’s lives.

In 1990, nearly 1 in 10 children would die before the age of 5—most of them in low- and lower-middle income countries, and most from preventable infectious diseases. Now, just a generation later, child deaths have come down significantly, to 1 in 25 children. That comes to more than 7.5 million children saved every year.

Here in China, over that same period, the number of young children who die has dropped by an astonishing 94%. In short, the world has shown what can be accomplished when we set ambitious goals and stay focused on achieving them.

The second reason I’m optimistic is that the potential of science and technology to solve really hard problems has never been greater. mRNA vaccine technology might make vaccines for diseases like TB and malaria possible. To fight these diseases, we need new and better prevention options. As I have said before, I believe that advances in technology, including artificial intelligence, will bring rapid breakthroughs in health care and education, ensuring more people have access to tools that are lifesaving and promise greater opportunities. Innovation in climate technologies – including everything from cleaner ways to generate and store power, to advancements in green steel and cement - will make it possible for the world to reduce emissions without limiting people’s access to affordable, abundant clean energy.

All this innovation—and more—can give us the power to meet the challenges in front of us.

The world is tied together like never before. Consider the climate. It’s changing because of what people in rich countries have been doing for hundreds of years, but so far it’s doing the greatest damage to people in low-income countries—even though they’re the ones who have done the least to contribute to the problem. And the current food crisis in many of those same countries was triggered by a war thousands of miles away in Europe.

So the question I’ve been asking myself is, how do we harness the power of science and innovation to really speed up progress?

The answer is that we can do this by making sure everyone plays a role. To solve the increasingly complex challenges facing our communities and build a future in which all people have the opportunity to lead a healthy and productive life, we have to bring the world’s combined expertise to bear. That means addressing climate change and ongoing development needs – both require innovation and ingenuity.

These challenges cannot be solved without the engagement of all parts of society – governments, academia, business, and philanthropy.

Each of these sectors is really good at some things, and not so good at other things. Scientists make ingenious discoveries, but it’s usually businesses that turn those discoveries into products and services people actually use. With the right policies in place, governments can make sure those solutions reach everyone. Philanthropy can drive innovation when markets won’t and bring different organizations together to serve the common good. When all these sectors collaborate, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Chinese innovators have an important role to play in these global partnerships. China has invaluable experience to share from its own successes in health, agriculture, nutrition, and poverty reduction. And it has talent. In labs, startups, and classrooms across the country, young people like many of you are hard at work inventing the solutions of the future:

• new medicines for old diseases, like TB and malaria,
• digital models for scaling up highly customized health care and education,
• crops that can thrive in harsher weather, like climate-smart hybrid rice varieties,
• and technologies that improve people’s quality of life but don’t change the climate, including new approaches to electricity transmission, agriculture, and building materials.

For the next few minutes, I’d like to talk about two areas where I think the world is poised for progress. Health and agriculture.

As you know very well here at GHDDI, one thing our foundation has focused on is a world without malaria, which still kills a child every minute. Even that statistic understates the impact of the disease because it makes about 250 million people desperately sick every year.

The vast majority of malaria cases are in Africa, but that wasn’t always the case. In the 1950s, China had at least 30 million malaria cases annually—and more than 300,000 malaria deaths. But then cases and deaths began to drop steadily, in part because of breakthroughs from Chinese scientists. One of them was Tu Youyou, whose pioneering work led to today’s leading treatment for malaria—and a Nobel Prize. In 2010, China launched its National Malaria Elimination Action Plan. In 2017, it registered zero local infections for the first time. And in 2021, it was certified malaria-free by the World Health Organization.

That’s an amazing accomplishment. But Chinese scientists are doing more than just helping eliminate malaria at home. They are building on this legacy by developing next-generation solutions to help eradicate malaria worldwide.

Consider the breakthrough work happening here. We’re especially excited about one of the malaria drug candidates GHDDI is working on, in partnership with two international organizations, the Medicines for Malaria Venture and the Malaria Drug Accelerator.

This drug candidate is still being studied in the lab, but so far it shows unusual promise, for three reasons. First, the parasite that causes malaria has developed resistance to a lot of today’s drugs, which means they no longer work as well as they used to. But this drug candidate appears to be what we call “irresistible,” so it has the potential to continue to be effective for a very long time.

Second, people need to take the current drugs for three days—but they don’t always follow through and finish the full course of treatment. This new drug candidate may be able to cure the disease in just a single dose.

Third, it looks like this drug candidate might not only treat the disease, but also prevent the infection in the first place.

There is still a long way to go before this drug candidate becomes an actual drug that people can take, but we expect this drug candidate to be in clinical trials in humans in the next several years.

I am not only excited about this one drug candidate. GHDDI has built an important collaboration with international TB research and development organizations that is generating exciting results. A series of novel compounds have been shown to have a synergistic effect with existing TB drugs in the lab. The promise is a much shorter TB treatment regimen – from the standard 4 to 6 months to only 1 to 2 months. This has implications on reduced transmission and disease burden if the drugs prove out in clinical testing.

What really excites me is the potential cumulative impact of all the cutting-edge global health R&D happening at institutions around the world. The more a global community of innovators can focus on the biggest challenges the world faces, the more people can thrive.

GHDDI is focused on fighting disease, but there are brilliant researchers in China working on other essential priorities that will determine the quality of people’s lives in the future such as helping farmers to adapt to climate change and make sure there is enough food for everyone in the world.

I have always been fascinated by Yuan Longping, who developed the world’s first hybrid rice varieties. His research didn’t just transform Chinese agriculture and the Chinese economy. It also helped feed the world. His work inspired the most important global agriculture research organization, CGIAR, to invest more in rice research. Yuan also taught more than 3,000 rice scientists from more than 50 nations, who applied what they learned from him in their home countries. It’s hard to imagine a more important discovery than the one that made it possible for billions of people to survive and thrive.

And now we need the next generation of discoveries. The Gates Foundation has been supporting Chinese scientists to develop hybrid rice varieties that can thrive in harsh weather—including typhoons, as we saw in the Philippines in 2014. Pakistan recently adopted new varieties that boost yields by more than one-third.

But for a variety of reasons, the new rice varieties weren’t catching on in the same way in African countries. So the foundation has supported a partnership between Chinese and West African rice scientists. They’re not only working to breed new varieties adapted to local conditions—they’re also working with local partners to make sure farmers have access to those new varieties so they can adapt to the changing climate. In pilots, yields in some West African countries are up as much as 50 percent.

Again, this example highlights the impact of partnership. The project won’t work without the Chinese team and its vast experience and expertise in rice breeding. But it also won’t work without the African teams and their understanding of local farmers and local food systems. This is the model of collaboration we should be striving for everywhere.

Those are just two examples that are close to my heart. The foundation is working on many other priorities alongside Chinese partners: for example, eradicating polio; diagnosing, preventing, and treating HIV and TB; and developing next-generation sanitation technology that is more affordable and sustainable.

I hope you are all feeling a little more optimistic now than when I started talking. And I hope you are thinking specifically about what you can do, and with whom, to catalyze solutions to the most pressing challenges the world faces. 

I am eager to see how innovators at GHDDI, across China, and around the world contribute to global progress in the years to come.

Thank you.