In an exciting move aimed at finding new treatments for malaria in the developing countries Medicines for Malaria Venture, a non-profit health foundation, and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has signed a partnership agreement for initiating joint research programmes.
GSK will contribute funding, staff with drug discovery expertise in malaria and state of the art facilities to the project. The research work will take place at the GSK drug discovery unit in Tres Cantos, which GSK has dedicated to the research into the diseases of the developing world. The centre has a team of 50 permanent staff with particular expertise in drug discovery. The Tres Cantos Centre is fully integrated into the GSK R&D organisation, which provides expertise and infrastructure for all aspects of drug discovery and development.
A portfolio of projects will be jointly managed by MMV and GSK. MMV will fund malaria drug discovery projects by subsidising the employment of additional scientists to join the existing staff at Tres Cantos and will provide expertise from its External Scientific Advisory Committee.
The main objective is not to maximise commercial return but the social-economic and public health benefit of the developing world.
Any successful medicines discovered as a result of this initiative will be made available in endemic areas on a not-for- profit basis. The agreement is for an indefinite period.
Professor Chris Hentschel of MMV added, 'Only in partnership will we make a significant impact on a disease such as malaria. The pharmaceutical companies provide us with access to facilities and technology in which they have invested for decades. The public sector has a crucial part to play by providing funds for drug development costs and ensuring that the medicines and vaccines get to the people who need them.'
'Public private partnerships are vital to maximise Society's chances of success in finding effective medicines to prevent and treat malaria' commented Dr Federico Gómez de Las Heras of GlaxoSmithKline. 'We have the expertise to find new medicines and this funding from MMV will allow us to dedicate more people to doing just that, in a sustainable way. We will increase our chances of success.'
The World Health Organisation estimates that there 300 - 500 million malaria cases annually, directly causing 1 million deaths and contributing to further 1.7 million deaths. It is estimated that one child every 30 seconds is killed by Malaria. 40% of the world's population - mostly those living in the world's poorest countries - are at risk of malaria. In some areas of the world resistance is growing to the most frequently used treatments for malaria such as chloroquine and sulfadoxine/ pyrimethamine (SP). New therapeutic approaches are vital to tackle drug resistant malaria.