GHIT Fund awards ¥700 million to Tanabe Pharma and partners to advance preclinical development of next-generation anti-malarial drugs targeting drug-resistant malaria.
Written By: Pharmacally Medical News Desk
The Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund has awarded approximately JPY 700 million to support a two-year preclinical development program.
The program is led by Tanabe Pharma Corporation in collaboration with Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) and the University of Georgia (UGA), and aims to advance next-generation anti-malarial drug candidates with novel mechanisms of action toward clinical development.
Tanabe Pharma, headquartered in Osaka and led by Representative Director Akihiro Harada, has been engaged in anti-malarial research with Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) since 2015 using its proprietary compound library.
The University of Georgia (UGA) joined the collaboration in 2023, and the partnership has since identified late-stage lead compounds that meet MMV’s criteria and are considered suitable for further development.
The funded program will focus on preclinical development of therapies designed to achieve Single Encounter Radical Cure and Prophylaxis (SERCAP) or chemoprevention.
The candidates will be developed in both oral and injectable forms, targeting infections caused by Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax, including relapse linked to latent liver-stage parasites.
Malaria remains a major global health burden, with approximately 610,000 deaths reported in 2024, most occurring in children under five.
Current treatment strategies rely heavily on artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), but declining parasite sensitivity and emerging resistance particularly in Southeast Asia are increasing risks to disease control.
This trend raises concerns about potential spread to high-burden regions such as sub-Saharan Africa.
The development of drugs with new mechanisms of action is therefore critical to address resistance and improve both treatment and prevention outcomes.
The GHIT Fund, a Japan-based public-private partnership involving the Japanese government, pharmaceutical companies, the Gates Foundation, Wellcome, and the United Nations Development Programme, supports research and development for neglected diseases affecting underserved populations.
Tanabe Pharma stated that this initiative aligns with its commitment to addressing unmet medical needs and contributing to global health goals, including efforts to eliminate malaria under the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3.
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