Patents for Humanity Winners – (USPTO)

The U.S. Commerce Department’s United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) today announced the latest winners of the Patents for Humanity program. The Patents for Humanity program was launched by the USPTO in February 2012 as part of an Obama administration initiative promoting game-changing innovations to solve long-standing development challenges.

The 2015 Patents for Humanity award ceremony recognizes seven recipients in five categories.

The Winners are:

•  Sanofi & Novartis AG in Medicine Field

Sanofi- for supplying large quantities of anti-malarial compounds on an at-cost basis for use in developing countries. And, Novartis AG for identifying new drug compounds for potentially treating drug-resistant tuberculosis and providing them to the non-profit TB Alliance for further development.

• American Standard in Sanitation Category

For distributing 700,000 “SaTo” safe toilet latrine pans to communities in Africa and Southeast Asia *

• SunPower Corp in Energy

for providing rechargeable lanterns as a safer alternative to kerosene lamps in Philippine villages, via shipping containers converted into portable, solar-powered energy stations.

• Nutriset & Golden Rice in Nutrition Category 

Nutriset- for fighting childhood malnutrition by creating a worldwide network of partners to supply their patented Plumpy’Nut® formula using local ingredients. Golden Rice for creating vitamin-A enriched strains of rice to prevent thousands of cases of blindness and death each day in people who subsist primarily on rice.

• GRIT: Global Research Innovation & Technology in Living Standard Category

For developing an all-terrain wheelchair using readily available bicycle parts for use in India, Guatemala, Haiti, and other locations.

Photo Credit: Kreg Steppe/www.flickr.com / CC BY-SA 2.0

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