Viva Brighton October 2015 Issue #32

tedx brighton
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Marc Koska
The idea that saved a million lives
In 1984, long before he
could justifiably claim to
have saved millions of
lives, Marc Koska was a
23-year-old drifter, living
in the Caribbean. His latest
in a string of jobs involved
making models, for lawyers,
of murder scenes.
Then he came across an
article in the Guardian,
about how syringe reuse could become a big factor
in the spread of HIV. He was intrigued, and – not
put off by his complete lack of expertise in the
subject – decided to try to do something about it.
“I said to myself that I’d study the problem, for as
long as it took, until I understood it well enough
to be in a position to come up with a solution,”
he says. So he spent “about three years” studying
it, doing “anything I could to get by... I’d sand
wooden floors, paint windows...”
He found out that there were something like 270
patent applications already, “but to me they all
seemed way too complicated and way too disruptive
to the process… I woke up one morning and realised
that the answer was very simple, actually.
“There was this particular point in the manufacturing
process that could be changed very quickly and
simply, and there wouldn’t be any negatives, in terms
of extra materials or manufacturing processes.”
This had the potential to save probably hundreds
of thousands of lives a year, and cheaply. One can
imagine the fanfare it received, and how Koska was
immediately acclaimed as a hero. But one would
be wrong. “It took me 17 years before I sold the
first product”. It was “really frustrating”.
Manufacturers weren’t really interested. They use
syringes as loss-leaders,
a way to get access to
other, more lucrative
markets. And needles
are “very low-attention
products. In other
words, manufacturers,
once they’ve started
making them, just want
to keep those machines
running, there’s no
interest in upgrading them or making the syringe
better, because in effect they make exactly the
same amount of money whether they make X or Y.
My product ends up at the same price, about five
US cents.”
Governments could have been quicker to insist on
non-reusable needles, but, Koska says, “there’s a lot
of corruption”. It’s expensive getting elected, and
decision makers end up with favours to repay.
His invention has slowly built momentum, though,
and he’s now sold something like 4.5 billion units,
which means he’s saved “probably in the region of
millions” of lives.
Is it difficult to stay modest? “It doesn’t register,
really. I’m just quite happy to be doing the job
[campaigning on injection safety] and we’ll see
where it takes us. It’s a very ongoing process, it’s
not something where you pass a finish line and
think ‘great, now I can go and do something else’.
I’m more worried about what I’m doing tomorrow
than I am about what happened yesterday.” SR
Marc is a curator/producer of TEDx Brighton. This
year’s theme is ‘Losing Control’. Speakers include
Chris Alton from the English Disco Lovers, Happyologist
Susanna Halonen, and ad-man Rory Sutherland.
30th Oct. Brighton Dome. tedxbrighton.com
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