Japan's GHIT invests $10.8 M to develop new drugs for malaria & NTDs

The Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund has announced a total investment of approximately JPY 1.64 billion ($10.8 million) in four projects for the development of new drugs for malaria and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

The GHIT Fund will invest approximately JPY 444 million ($2.9 million) in two malaria projects: the development of malaria chemoprevention drug through a partnership among Shionogi & Co., Nagasaki University, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), and therapeutic drug development led by Eisai Co., the Scripps Research Institute, and International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB).

For NTDs, the GHIT Fund will invest approximately JPY 1.2 billion ($7.9 million) in two projects: drug development for onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis led by Eisai Co., University Hospital Bonn, and Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, and the development of a treatment for Chagas disease led by Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation and Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi).

Through global partnerships, the GHIT Fund aims to promote open innovation in R&D and create an environment that enables the rapid delivery of products to patients in need. The GHIT Fund is a Japan-based international public-private partnership (PPP) fund that was formed between the Government of Japan, multiple pharmaceutical companies, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).