In the late 1990s the Bethesda-based Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (CFF), wanting to take more direct action toward finding treatments for cystic fibrosis (CF) beyond its traditional approach of funding basic research at universities, invested in a small California biotechnology firm to help fund the discovery and development of the drug that twenty years later (January 2012) was approved as Kalydeco.
[7][15] Twenty-nine physicians and scientists working with people with cystic fibrosis wrote to the CEO of Vertex Pharmaceuticals to plead for lower prices.
CFF struck a similar agreement with the company, Altus Pharmaceuticals, to fund development of a recombinant enzyme that could treat pancreatic disease in people with cystic fibrosis.
[17][18] UW-Madison Professor Emeritus Kenneth Zeichner wrote a paper criticizing the role of the NewSchools Venture Fund[19] in bringing deregulation and market-based practices into schools in the US.
[21] Others have argued that venture philanthropy often suffers from a lack of accountability, with projects prioritized more for their measurable metrics than for genuine long-term change, leading to a cycle of publicity-driven initiatives, in particular in education, that fail to address the underlying systemic issues facing society.