International product development partnerships: innovation for better health?

Abstract

In developing countries international product development partnerships engage in health product innovation activities such as clinical trial research. This paper discusses how one such partnership’s (the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative) activities build meso level institutional knowledge-based capacity between, and within, the Kenyan national level partners. The paper will discuss the way knowledge is exchanged and how linkages are made between those involved in scientific research or innovation activities and those involved in healthcare activities within and beyond the partnership. This research provides evidence of where these two fields of activity (innovation and health) need each other in order for AIDS vaccine clinical research to take place. This paper outlines examples of this interconnectivity and its implications for innovation theory and ideas of capacity building. It concludes with a discussion of the questions this raises for the conceptualisation of the IAVI partnership, how this fits into a wider discussion regarding the definition of health innovation and how it is promoted within national and international policy spheres.