Mr. William Gates                 October 2, 2000
Chairman
Microsoft Corporation
1 Microsoft Way
Redmond WA 98052

Dear Mr. Gates,

        I really hope this letter gets to you personally. Here is a very high leverage philanthropic opportunity that could very quickly save lives and improve the health of many millions of people in poor countries, creating value for humanity of trillions of dollars.  I estimate the leverage to be about a million to one, and the time line for launch to be just a few weeks, with exponential worldwide growth over the following one to three years. I do not yet have an established nonprofit organization to meet the funding criteria of your foundation. But that should not stand in the way of an important project like this one.  I need a lead philanthropist. So I am appealing to you, directly and personally.

        The project is a nonprofit initiative to teach doctors in poor countries the technique of Insulin Potentiation Therapy (IPT), and to monitor and communicate their successes so that this technique can spread rapidly around the world.

Insulin Potentiation Therapy (IPT). IPT is the remarkable and little known use of the hormone insulin to boost drug delivery and effectiveness, while dramatically reducing dose by 50 to 95 percent, and essentially eliminating side effects. IPT is a slight modification of standard medical procedures, a better way for doctors to use the drugs and supplies that they already have. IPT makes regular drugs into super drugs, toxic drugs into safe drugs, expensive drugs into affordable drugs. IPT is not a magic bullet, but a magic gun. I call it "the second discovery of insulin." It offers better, faster, safer results, at dramatically lower cost, and is very promising for use in developing regions.

        With 133 doctor-years of experience over 74 years, we know empirically that IPT works. It has had excellent to spectacular results in treating cancer, arthritis, infectious, respiratory, cardiovascular, neurological, and other diseases. Laboratory research to understand how IPT works has barely begun, and should be a priority over the long term. But time is short for the urgent needs of the poor countries. We should train doctors in this simple, safe, low-cost technique, and let them see the benefits with their own eyes.

Disease burdens addressed: Faster cheaper treatment of HIV/AIDS; likelihood of better treatment for malaria and tuberculosis; other infectious diseases (bacterial, viral, parasitic); effective affordable cancer treatment; arthritis; respiratory, cardiovascular, neurological, and other diseases. Breast, prostate, lung, and other cancers can be treated with low-dose IPT chemotherapy with no surgery, no radiation, and no side effects. With IPT, medical cancer therapy could become affordable for the first time in poor countries. (IPT will soon be a better standard treatment for us in the rich countries, too.)

High Leverage: At least a million to one. Based on analysis from the Milken Institute,
I believe that a few million dollars invested will bring benefits of many trillions of dollars to humanity. Rich countries and pharma companies have been slow to investigate IPT, but the huge health problems in poor countries demand innovative approaches like this.

Rapid results: The superiority of IPT over other medical treatments becomes obvious to doctors who try it, within the first few weeks of regular use. Since doctors everywhere already have the ingredients and skills for IPT, great results from small IPT demonstration programs can spread rapidly in a global chain reaction taking one to three years.

Low risk: Just a slight modification of standard medical practices. Based on 133 doctor-years of IPT experience, over 74 years, with 10 doctors in 5 countries, we know that
IPT works very well. Its use for cancer is finally under study by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). Based on successes with other infectious diseases, the likelihood of IPT improving treatment of HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis is very high. Doctors can try IPT first, and If an individual patient does not respond quickly to IPT, they can be referred to standard treatment, with little loss of time or resources.

Partnerships: I have approached the World Health Organization, the Carter Center, and Stanford University Medical Center about this project. With funding from you (and hopefully in cooperation with them), this project can launch quickly and achieve results within a few months. The key is to teach more doctors the IPT method, and show them how to modify IPT for use in poor countries. We are already prepared to do this. With a relatively small endowment, you could help us create a small, lean, results-oriented organization to launch this initiative. I am eager to begin an IPT training program for doctors in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Once they try IPT, everything else will follow.

Vision: IPT is a simple, safe, easy-to-learn modification of medical practice that uses existing drugs and resources better, to give dramatically superior, faster, & more economical medical results, across a wide spectrum of diseases. Adoption of IPT in the rich countries appears likely over the coming decade. But the urgent needs of the poor countries call for more rapid IPT implementation. IPT addresses the most serious medical problems of the developing world. Since IPT is not a new drug or device, it can be safely and ethically used by doctors immediately. And with good results it can spread like wildfire. The investment needed to set off this explosive chain reaction is minimal. And we are ready to begin now.

Sincerely, Chris Duffield, Ph.D.