New GHIT Fund partnerships enable R&D investment

The Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund) has announced funding partnerships with 10 new organisations, including major global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

GHIT mobilises Japanese pharmaceutical companies and academic and research organisations to engage in the effort to get new medicines, vaccines and diagnostic tools to people who need them most. The new partnerships, which will enable the organisation to continue investing in R&D for neglected diseases, include the following:

Full funding partnership:

• FUJIFILM Corporation, a Japan-headquartered healthcare company that was recently named a Top 100 Global Innovator by Thomson Reuters.

Associate partnership:

• Otsuka Pharmaceutical, a ‘big venture’ company based in Japan that focuses on new products for the treatment of challenging diseases and for the maintenance of everyday health worldwide.

Affiliate partnerships:

• GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a science-led healthcare company that is committed to making its products available to as many people as possible.
• Johnson & Johnson, which has been committed to improving the health of individuals, families and communities around the world for over 130 years.
• Kyowa Hakko Kirin, a Japanese biopharmaceutical company focusing on the core business areas of oncology, nephrology and immunology/allergy.
• Merck, a science and technology company in healthcare, life science and performance materials.
• Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, a research-driven pharmaceutical company whose head office is based in Osaka.
• Nipro Corporation, a Japanese medical devices and pharmaceutical company that develops dialysis products, injection and infusion products, diabetic care products and generic medicines.
• Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma, a Japan-based company aiming to create innovative pharmaceutical products for therapeutic focus areas including psychiatry and neurology, oncology and other areas with high unmet medical needs.

Sponsorship:

• Salesforce.com, a customer success platform and customer relationship management (CRM) application.

“We are excited to welcome these new funding partners — from within Japan and across the globe — who have joined forces with the GHIT Fund because of their own unique commitments to global health, as well as their confidence that working together will transform R&D,” said GHIT Fund CEO Dr BT Slingsby. “The partnerships will not only broaden our scope, but also increase our ability to reach the world’s most vulnerable people with lifesaving technology.”

2016 marks GHIT’s third year investing in R&D for neglected diseases, having now allocated more than US$60 million into upwards of 60 collaborations for product development. Of these investments, 23 have resulted in partnerships to screen Japan’s unique compound libraries, resulting in 18 potential drug candidates.

“With these new partnerships, in addition to last month’s pledge from the Government of Japan to contribute $130 million to GHIT’s/UNDP’s replenishment, recent progress has the potential to accelerate these tools even faster into the hands of the doctors, nurses and patients who need them most,” said Dr Kiyoshi Kurokawa, chair of the board at GHIT. “We’ll be working with our partners from industry, the Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust to realise our full replenishment and, with that, our opportunities to change the face of R&D for global health are boundless.”