WHO, Partner Agencies and Industry to Develop Malaria Drugs
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Press Release WHO/IFPMA, 3 November 1999
http://www.who.int/inf-pr-1999/en/pr99-64xx.html
In a first for international public health, public agencies have
joined together with the private-sector to create a unique mechanism
for developing anti-malarial drugs which otherwise would never have
seen the light of the day. Called the Medicines for Malaria Venture,
MMV will be established as an independent foundation under Swiss law.
Initial cosponsors of MMV are the World Health Organisation, the In-
ternational Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations
(IFPMA), the World Bank, the UK Department for International Develop-
ment, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Global
Forum for Health Research, the Rockefeller Foundation and the global
Roll Back Malaria Partnership. The goal of MMV, once its funding tar-
gets are achieved, is to secure, on average, the registration of one
new antimalarial drug every five years. This will require raising
some US$15 million per annum by 2001, rising to US$30 million per an-
num soon thereafter.
"MMV has been created because the increased costs of developing and
registering pharmaceutical products, coupled with the prospects of
inadequate commercial returns, have resulted in the withdrawal of the
majority of research-based pharmaceutical companies from R&D invest-
ment in tropical diseases and especially from discovery research ac-
tivities," said Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, WHO Director-General, as
she and the cosponsors launched MMV today.
MMV will operate as a non-profit business. It will raise its capital
and apply its funds to a selected number of promising drug R&D pro-
jects. Three drug discovery projects have already been identified and
will be funded for a total of $4 million through 2000. MMV will pro-
vide the support necessary for such projects to maximise the likeli-
hood they will lead to the development, registration and commerciali-
sation of promising antimalarial medicines. MMV will seek resources
from funders that share its public health goals, such as governments,
foundations and philanthropic organisations, and from the pharmaceu-
tical industry, whose commitment to the partnership is reflected
through its donations of drug discovery expertise and related tech-
nology. MMV will be run by a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and will
have a management team of about eight people. Until a permanent CEO
is appointed, Dr. Robert Ridley of WHO will act in this role.
MMV's goal is that new anti-malarials are brought to the market and
are accessible to those that need them. This will require a cash out-
lay of some US$150 million per new drug, complemented by "in-kind"
support of a substantial nature from the pharmaceutical industry.
Much of this support is highly specific to the industry, e.g. access
to chemical libraries for high throughput molecular screening. For
drug R&D this has a value that goes beyond what money can buy. If
funding targets are reached, it is expected that the first products
developed through MMV could be commercially available before 2010.
Mr. Lodewijk de Vink, President of IFPMA, stated that he "welcomes
the creation of MMV, which symbolizes the start of a new era of part-
nership between the research-based pharmaceutical industry and WHO to
bring about real improvements in world health":
MMV is the result of several years preparation by the industry and
international development agencies. It has come to life through a
dialogue between the World Health Organisation and pharmaceutical in-
dustry leaders, whose Roundtable discussions have been carried out in
a spirit of cooperation to develop solutions to long-standing gaps in
the health of people in developing nations.
MMV's creation was greatly facilitated by the first of these Roundta-
ble discussions in October 1998. At the second Roundtable, today,
representatives of WHO and industry agreed the need for national
strategies to do more to ensure equitable access to, rational use of,
and assured quality for existing medicinal drugs. They noted the
critical importance of drug financing and affordability in improving
medical care for poor people. They also agreed the continued neces-
sity for high quality research, backed by appropriate incentives for
innovation and protection of intellectual property, to develop new
drugs for the conditions that contribute to widespread suffering and
underdevelopment.
MMV is the response of the private and public sectors to the growing
crisis of malaria and the high priority given to rolling back malaria
by WHO and other partners. These include the governments of malaria
affected countries, development banks, UN organisations, bilateral
development agencies, research groups, commercial entities, non-
governmental organisations and media groups. Each year between 300
and 500 million episodes of malaria illness result in well over one
million people dying, and massive loss of earnings. Due to the spread
of drug resistance, many well-tried malaria treatments are becoming
ineffective. The public sector has maintained funding for basic sci-
ence and clinical research but lacks the expertise, mechanisms and
resources to discover, develop, register and commercialise new prod-
ucts. Through MMV, the private and public sectors are able to bring
together the best of each others' strengths, and contribute to the
Roll Back Malaria goal of halving the global malaria burden by the
year 2010 and sustaining this effort into the future.
More information on MMV can be found at the following website:
http://www.malariamedicines.org
All WHO Press Releases, Fact Sheets and Features as well as other in-
formation on this subject can be obtained on Internet on the WHO home
page:
http://www.who.int
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