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Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator

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Re: Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator

#101

Post by cpursley »

judah wrote: post #79
cpursley wrote: post #54

I'm all for this; more power to them. However, HIV/AIDS is already very preventable and had been on the decline for a decade or more. I'd rather see something like this effort, but for cancer. A disease that affects many more people. Actually, what I really want to see it a focus on stopping poaching, whaling, habitat destruction and ocean acidification. Even with all the disease, humans don't seem to have issues rep…

Bill Gates just addressed this [1], showing the faulty thinking behind this idea that saving lives is ultimately bad for the earth. "It may be counterintuitive, but the countries with the most deaths have among the fastest-growing populations in the world. This is because the women in these countries tend to have the most births, too. This pattern of falling death rates followed by falling birth rates applies for the…

Thanks for all the notes. Great points for me to ponder. Perhaps Mr. Gates is correct to an extent.

Re: Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator

#102

Post by dnautics »

naveenspark wrote: post #24
mef wrote: post #11

Does anyone know why this approach is "viewed as a rogue project by the immunology community"? Is it just because it's new, or is there something more fundamental that conflicts with established immunology?

Hi all, this is Naveen from Immunity Project YC team. The fact that we are using ML to identify epitopes that are the preferred targets on the virus for HIV controllers is key to what makes our project unique. This is a newer approach for developing a vaccine and therefore makes it "rogue."

Hey Naveen, I know that there are some epitopes that can only be recognized if there's a weird domain swap that happens, causing antibodies to be "four-pronged" instead of "two pronged". I think it's a proline substitution in the conserved neck region. Did you screen out those epitopes from your ML?

Also good luck! I'm chipping in now. I'm relaunching my own crowd-funded nonprofit research in the biomedical space (and will be partnering with crowdhoster/crowdtilt)... I'm magnifying your message. When the dust settles a little bit I'd love to be in touch with you guys.

Re: Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator

#103

Post by zvrba »

naveenspark wrote: post #34
anu_gupta wrote: post #26

I'd like to understand why organisations like the Gates Foundation / NIH aren't excited by this approach? I'm assuming they've rejected this, which would explain the need to crowdfinance the next part. If they haven't rejected it, why aren't they being approached for grants? Also, where's the science? Having something in the FAQ that states "We're awaiting publication in a peer-reviewed journal" is, to be blunt, pret…

We are pursuing all major funders we know of for funding for our work (including Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation etc.). The challenge is that it takes significant time to prepare grants apps, and go through the process. Some large funders such as EJAF only accept grant applications once a year. HIV/AIDS is an urgent challenge. Therefore we are crowd funding these dollars now to move our project forward immediately.…

> Its harder to get published if you release all of the data prior to publication.

IF you succeed (and I hope you will).. just think how AWESOME would it be that the authors of one of the most significant achievements of the 21st century boicoted those greedy journals.

You'll probably win a Nobel prize if you succeed, why care about a journal publication?!

Re: Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator

#104

Post by dnautics »

rgejman wrote: post #96
naveenspark wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We are pursuing all major funders we know of for funding for our work (including Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation etc.). The challenge is that it takes significant time to prepare grants apps, and go through the process. Some large funders such as EJAF only accept grant applications once a year. HIV/AIDS is an urgent challenge. Therefore we are crowd funding these dollars now to move our project forward immediately.…

I'm confused as to why you would encourage anyone to donate money to your organization without providing any data. I'm also confused about why you care about publication in traditional scientific mediums. You are starting a company and it would be in your interest to release as much data as possible about your successes in an attempt to raise money. Not to mention, there are some journals that will publish pre-printe…

there was veeery recently a bio paper that got pushed to arXiv. I don't have the link, since I saw it float by on a facebook feed, but I will look for it.

Re: Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator

#105

Post by dylandrop »

rdl wrote: post #63

This is going to be really inconvenient for all the people who say "sure, you are good at making photo sharing apps and dating sites, but you don't cure cancer or anything."

I'm a bit confused. Who is the "you" here?

Re: Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator

#106

Post by namenotrequired »

humannature wrote: post #87

when are we going to start addressing the problem of overpopulation?

There's a lot of non-profits that aim to make birth control more wide-spread, too. Do you have any other ideas how overpopulation can be tackled by a startup with purely legal methods?

Re: Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator

#107

Post by crystaln »

darklegend wrote: post #39
crystaln wrote: post #36

I'm trying to understand what if any overlap a pharmaceutical nonprofit has with any value YC could add, from the scale of funds required, to product advice, to business model - everything seems entirely out of the range of YC's expertise.

Just had the same thoughts... They try to get crowdfunding - so this is maybe just a kind of good PR ;-) [Edit] Just to make it clear: Nothing against the project itself. Any chance of getting a HIV vaccine should be used!

I agree it seems on the surface like a mutually beneficial PR stunt, which would be pathetically shallow.

On the other hand, this could be YC's foot in the door to disrupt the high margin, high investment, treatment over cure model of the health industry, in which case more power to them. We can expect to see YC spinning off a health division. That seems like quite the challenge - hope they know what they are getting themselves into.

We do need more altruism in the health research market that will bring unpatentable cures to market instead of expensive long term treatments.

Re: Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator

#108

Post by TeMPOraL »

unclebucknasty wrote: post #100
TeMPOraL wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get what you're talking about, but right now I personally feel happy that this effect is increasing, and I hope to be the part of this small group at some point. It's because, to be honest, majority of humans just doesn't give a crap about anything that's further than 10cm from the end of their noses. The opposite of world priorities being set by fewer and fewer people is not lots of good things happening, it's not…

> I personally feel happy that this effect is increasing Well, it's all good until it isn't. If the priorities of a few people impact so many (including you) and you no longer agree with them, then what do you do? > I hope to be the part of this small group at some point. I think it's actually a shame that you'd need to be a part of the "small group" in order to have a voice. Ideally, we'd all have at least the capac…

> Well, it's all good until it isn't. If the priorities of a few people impact so many (including you) and you no longer agree with them, then what do you do?

You have a good point here, but...

> I think it's actually a shame that you'd need to be a part of the "small group" in order to have a voice.

> It's actually harder for you to make it into the small group sans the blessing of the few who are in it.

... but I don't think it works like that. The "small group" I'm talking about is not a group of special people, either born into it or allowed to join. I'm thinking about a subset of humanity that actually gives a damn, and works towards a change. It seems that the entry exam for joining this "small group" is just getting out and doing anything - starting a company, starting a movement, starting a research project, etc. Because most people don't do anything, you can join the minority by just trying to fix something.

Actually, it's the whole Snowdengate thing that got me thinking about this issue. There's a popular meme here that "the solution must be political in nature, not technological", a statement I strongly disagree with. I've come to realize that an effective solution will have to be technological in nature, because politics means lots of talking that never gets you anywhere, while a simple technological solution can simply shift the problem landscape under people's feet. You don't have to ask anyone; you deploy, and they'll have to cope. It's exactly the kind of thinking you're worried about, but I can't really see any alternative.

You see, the world is full of short-sighted, uncaring, or sometimes outright stupid people who, if given the chance, will burn this planet down to the ground thanks to their sheer incompetence. I would love them to have the freedom and the equal influence over the world's priorities, but I also don't want my future kids to die a painful death because of a combination of stupidity and democracy.

Re: Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator

#109

Post by opendomain »

naveenspark wrote: post #92
opendomain wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did some more research and would really like a clarifcation of this project. First of all - Flow Pharma is the inventor of the vsaccine - they are a FOR PROFIT angel backed company. Why do they need crowdfunding? Second - How does Immunity project work? It seems that the real non-profit is "Until there is a cure". So you are donating money to them, which then give the money to the immunity project which pays for a…

More then happy to give you the full details on how we've set this up: the vaccine is being developed by Flow Pharma Inc. Instead of setting up our own 501(c)3, we setup a fiscal sponsorship agreement with Until There's A Cure, a leading HIV/AIDS focused 501(c)3. We are operating the project as a non profit even though our entity type is technically a corp. In other words we are obligated to follow 501(c)3 rules and…

Thank you very much for your response! Unfortunately, I do not think you actually answered my questions!

* Why does Flow Pharma need crowdfunding when they are FOR PROFIT? * How can you guarantee FREE vaccines for everyone for only $500k? * What will the crowd founding be spent on and will there be follow on investing needed? * What is the future of Immunity Project? Have you begun your application to be your own official non-profit?

EDIT: I seem that someone else answered a part "Dr. Reid Rubsamen, developed the vaccine is part of the Immunity Project", but does not explain the exact relationship with Flow Pharma?

Re: Startup developing HIV/AIDS vaccine is 2nd nonprofit accepted into Y Combinator

#110

Post by yapcguy »

crystaln wrote: post #36

I'm trying to understand what if any overlap a pharmaceutical nonprofit has with any value YC could add, from the scale of funds required, to product advice, to business model - everything seems entirely out of the range of YC's expertise.

Yeah...

Anyone know how much YC is contributing and what they get in exchange? Some kind of ownership of the company?

Do people taking part in the $482,000 fund raiser get ownership of the company?

Why doesn't YC just donate money as part of the fund raiser?

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