About Medicines for All (M4ALL)
The Medicines for All Institute (M4ALL), based at Virginia Commonwealth University College of Engineering in Richmond, Virginia, is committed to improving global access to high-quality medications by driving down production costs. By re-imagining manufacturing processes, the institute’s chemical engineers and chemists optimize active pharmaceutical ingredient production and provide open access to manufacturers around the world to enhance the security of medicine supply chains. The institute was founded in 2017 with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Visit medicines4all.vcu.edu.
About Medicines for All CEO and Founder: B. Frank Gupton, Ph.D.
Helpful Resources
M4ALL website: https://medicines4all.vcu.edu/
Press releases: https://medicines4all.vcu.edu/news/press-releases/
Webinars: https://medicines4all.vcu.edu/news/archive/webinars/
News Stories
- Collaboration with one-of-a-kind drug production lab at VCU accelerates Massey's innovation
- Medicines for All Institute and South African manufacturer enter partnership to improve access to lifesaving medications
- Streamlining pharmaceutical processes
- Medicines for All Institute develops new, cost-saving synthesis of anti-HIV drug
- Ivory Coast, VCU form partnership to improve access to lifesaving medicines
- VCU Engineering’s Medicines for All awarded $25 million to increase access to lifesaving medications
- Medicines for All team set to save lives globally
- Medicines for All Initiative Funded for Third AIDS Therapy
Medicines for All In the News
VCU Engineering’s Medicines for All Institute partners with industry to secure the domestic pharmaceutical supply chain
News coverage:
Trump to Tap New Company to Make Covid-19 Drugs in the U.S.
New York Times (5/19/2020)
Trump takes first step toward returning medical supply chains to the U.S.
Washington Post
Trump administration taps startup to build stockpile of key drug ingredients
NBC News
HHS announces $354M contract with Virginia-based company to make coronavirus drugs in US
Fox News
Trump Signs Deal With Company in Effort Shift Drug Manufacturing to U.S.: New York Times
U.S. News and World Report
New Pharma Company Lands $354 Million Government Contract To Produce Coronavirus Drugs In The U.S.
Forbes
Click here to see more Medicines for All In the News.
FAQs
What is M4ALL?
Based in the Virginia Commonwealth University College of Engineering, the Medicines for All Institute (M4All) improves access to safe, effective and affordable medications by developing more efficient ways to manufacture pharmaceuticals.
What makes M4ALL different?
M4ALL optimizes pharmaceutical manufacturing by curbing waste, lowering costs and reducing pollution. To do this, the engineers and scientists at M4ALL create ways to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) more efficiently, including through continuous flow processing.
What is continuous flow processing?
As its name implies, continuous flow processing is a way of producing APIs in an uninterrupted flow. This eliminates the inefficient stops and starts of manufacturing these ingredients batch by batch (which is how they are commonly produced). As a result, APIs manufactured using continuous flow processing generate less waste, and their quality tends to be higher and more consistent.
Where is M4ALL already at work?
In early 2020, M4ALL entered into a partnership with a manufacturer in South Africa to commercialize advances made by the institute to improve access to lifesaving medications for HIV/AIDS and other diseases.
In 2018, M4ALL was instrumental in creating a partnership between VCU and the government of Ivory Coast to train researchers in the West African country to develop high-quality pharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities.
Which medications are the focus of M4ALL?
M4ALL is currently redesigning manufacturing protocols for five HIV/AIDS drugs that are urgently needed worldwide. The institute will add medications for malaria, tuberculosis and rare diseases to its portfolio in the future.