E-DRUG: Press Release: Medicines for Malaria Venture becomes first Product Development Partnership to make its IP freely available for neglected diseases research
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Embargoed until 16.00 CET, Monday, 16 August 2010
Medicines for Malaria Venture becomes first Product Development Partnership to make its IP freely available for neglected diseases research
16 August 2010, Geneva: With an agreement signed today, MMV (Medicines for Malaria Venture) became the first product development partnership (PDP) to contribute intellectual property to the Pool for Open Innovation Against Neglected Tropical Diseases.
The Pool was established in February 2009 by GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and has since been joined by MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). It seeks to stimulate innovative and efficient drug discovery and development by providing public access to intellectual property (IP) and scientific know-how for neglected tropical disease research. The Pool is administered by BIO Ventures for Global Health (BVGH).
As contributor to the Pool, MMV will make available its IP, technology and expertise in the research and development (R&D) of antimalarial drugs to researchers developing medicines for neglected diseases.
<MMV is proud to be a contributor to the Pool for Open Innovation Against Neglected Tropical Diseases and to join a group of like-minded organizations dedicated to researching new health tools for neglected diseases. Our contribution to the Pool is in line with MMV's commitment to allow any patents and technologies resulting from our R&D work, developing new, effective and affordable medicines for malaria, to be used for public good. Researchers will now have access to MMV's know-how, free of charge, to discover and develop medicines for neglected diseases that are an enormous burden on the poorer patients in the developing world,> said Prof. Patrick Nef, EVP Business Development of MMV.
For more information, contact:
Jaya Banerji, Director Communications and Advocacy, MMV
Mobile: +41797077181
Email: banerjij@mmv.org
About the Pool for Open Innovation against Neglected Tropical Diseases
The Pool for Open Innovation was established in February 2009 with the mission of motivating innovative and efficient drug discovery and development by opening access to intellectual property or know-how in neglected tropical disease product development. The diseases targeted by the pool are the 16 diseases identified by the FDA for its own Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) initiative: tuberculosis, malaria, blinding trachoma, buruli ulcer, cholera, dengue/dengue haemorrhagic fever, racunculiasis, fascioliasis, human African trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis, leprosy, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, soil transmitted helminthiasis, and yaws. The geographic focus of the pool will be the world's Least Developed Countries as identified by the United Nations and includes much of western and central Africa as well as several countries in Southeast Asia. GlaxoSmithKline became the first major pharmaceutical company to propose a pool for neglected tropical disease in February 2009; Alnylam Pharmaceuticals joined the pool in July 2009 and BIO Ventures for Global Health was chosen as the administrator of the pool in January 2010.
About MMV
Medicines for Malaria Venture, a not-for-profit public-private partnership, was established as a foundation in Switzerland in1999. It is dedicated to the reduction of the malaria burden in disease-endemic countries with the discovery, development and delivery of new, effective and affordable antimalarial drugs. Our vision is a world in which these innovative medicines will cure and protect the vulnerable and under-served populations at risk of malaria, and help to ultimately eradicate this terrible disease.
MMV's mission is to bring public, private and philanthropic sector partners together to fund and manage the discovery, development and delivery of new medicines for the treatment and prevention of malaria in disease-endemic countries.
MMV is currently managing the largest portfolio of antimalarial R&D projects ever assembled; almost 60 antimalarial projects in partnership with over 130 pharmaceutical, academic, and endemic-country partners in 44 countries. In 2009, in collaboration with partners, MMV launched its first ever product - a sweet-tasting, paediatric formulation, Coartem® Dispersible. Two other MMV-supported artemisinin combination therapies, EurartesimT and Pyramax®, have been submitted to the EMA for regulatory approval. Seven further potential medicines are in clinical development. The portfolio of discovery projects includes 19 completely new classes of compounds.
Jaya Banerji
Director Advocacy and Communications
T +41 22 799 40 71
M +41 79 707 71 81
F +41 22 799 40 61
banerjij@mmv.org
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