Bill Gates, co-chair of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, announced that the foundation will provide $168.7 million to Path for its Malaria Vaccine Initiative to develop vaccines for malaria-a disease that kills thousands of African children every day.
The Path Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) is working with GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals to develop a first-generation vaccine candidate, known as RTS,S, which could become the first-ever approved malaria vaccine. With the new grant announced today, MVI will support the development of next-generation vaccines that could provide even greater and longer-lasting protection.
"I am very hopeful that the malaria vaccine currently in advanced testing will be proven effective, but that will just be the first step," said Gates. "Now it's time to develop a new generation of vaccines that are even more effective, and could someday help eradicate malaria altogether."
Gates announced the new funding at the UN Millennium Development Goals Malaria Summit, a meeting of heads of state, CEOs, UN officials, and other leaders. At the event, the roll back malaria partnership launched the Global Malaria Action Plan, a comprehensive global strategy to fight malaria. The Gates Foundation grant and other commitments announced will help address key priorities in the Action Plan.
The Gates Foundation grant will support MVI's efforts to expand its vaccine R&D pipeline with projects ranging from early-stage laboratory research to advanced clinical testing. MVI will work with partners to discover new antigens and adjuvant that could lead to more effective vaccines, and develop new tools to select the most promising candidates for further development.
MVI will also work to foster a more competitive vaccine marketplace and help ensure that future vaccines will be affordable and accessible in developing countries. They will conduct market assessments, demand forecasting, and modeling studies to guide policymakers and vaccine manufacturers, and partner with vaccine makers in developing countries to keep costs low.
"These new funds are recognition that we have a solid research and development strategy, and the team to deliver on it," said Dr Christian Loucq, director of MVI. "This commitment should signal to potential research partners that the time is ripe to work with us to help defeat this horrible disease. Already, we have added to our roster of partners and entered into collaborative agreements on vaccine components, ways to boost their potency, and methods for testing their biological activity."
"Our strategy for developing a malaria vaccine follows the Path approach to neglected diseases, which has shown that investment in core areas of research and development, particularly vaccine technology, does yield important advances," said Dr Christopher J Elias, president and CEO of Path. "The Path Malaria Vaccine Initiative is now ready to accelerate further the development of what the world urgently needs: safe, effective, and affordable vaccines that reduce the suffering caused by malaria."
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty.