Dengue fever, rabies, and other neglected
tropical diseases (NTDs) impedeeconomic growth and human developmentin impoverished areas. The photo shows apatient being treated for mycetoma. TheGHIT Fund has invested in a project
undertaken by Eisai Co., Ltd. to develop
therapeutic drugs for the disease.
LAMECK ODODO-DNDI

PUBLIC -PRIVATE FUND
BOLSTERS GLOBALPARTNERSHIPSIN FIGHTING INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Neglected infectious diseases threaten the lives and health of multitudes in the world’s low- and middle-incomecountries. The Global Health Innovative Technology Fund, based in Japan, promotes global partnerships between
public and private actors in developing drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics, thus contributing to healthcare systems thatleave no one behind.
Infectious diseases such as
neglected
tropicaldiseases(NTDs),
tuberculosis,
andmalaria greatly affect and threaten
the health and lives of more thana billion people in the low- andmiddle-income countries of
the world. However, researchand development into drugs,
tests and vaccines that target
those infectious diseases havenot been tackled well in highincome countries, where they areless prevalent, as the return on
investment has been deemed tobe low. Instead, medical researchin these countries has tended tofocus on other diseases such ascancer.
The Global Health Innovative
Technology (GHIT) Fund wasestablished in 2013 as a uniqueglobal public-private fund withthe goal of making the world aplace where adequate medicaltreatment is available to all,

KUNII Osamu, MD, MPH, PhD, CEO of theGHIT Fund, has worked for UNICEF and theGlobal Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis andMalaria, and has strived for improved global
health in such fields as infectious disease control,maternal and child health, and humanitarianrelief. He is committed to improving access to
medical technology and services for the countless
number of people underserved or left behind inover 130 countries. He regards the GHIT Fund
as a way to provide support by positioning
domestic and overseas partners in a win-win
relationship.

promoting the development ofdrugs, vaccines, and diagnostics
to treat and prevent infectious
diseases. Its funding partners
include the Government ofJapan; the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation; Wellcome,a global charitable foundation;and various Japanese and global
pharmaceutical companies. Upto now, a total of 170 productdevelopment partners haveparticipated in a system of open
innovation that generates new
countermeasures by linking
Japan’s leading technologies withoverseas resources and networks.
“The GHIT Fund emphasizes
partnerships,”
says
KUNII
Osamu, CEO of the fund. “Drugdevelopment is extremely costly
and requires years to complete.
The success rate is low for single
businesses and universities. It is
important to accelerate the process
and improve the success rate bystrengthening cooperation.”In the decade since its
inception, the GHIT Fund has
invested 29.1 billion yen in a totalof 118 projects. Clinical trials
are underway for 12 of them.
One involves the developmentof a drug to treat mycetoma, an
infection frequently caused bybacteria or fungi picked up while
walking barefoot. Eisai Co., Ltd.,
Japan had already developed adrug for onychomycosis, whichis expected to be also effective
against mycetoma. A partnershipwith the Drugs for Neglected
Diseases initiative (DNDi), aninternational NPO, was thus
initiated and became the basis
for an ongoing effort to develop

a drug that is safer and more
effective than existing ones.
The first GHIT-funded drug
project to apply for approval inclinical use involves a pediatricdrug
forschistosomiasis(bilharzia), an infection causedby exposure to contaminatedwater, and which can damage
internal organs. An application
for the drug was submitted to theEuropean Medicines Agency inDecember 2022. Merck KGaA,a pharmaceutical company basedin Germany, had already provided
the world with an effective
therapeutic drug, but a pediatricversion of the drug was yet toexist. Oral tablets for adults were
not only too large—they were also
bitter and difficult to administerto infants and young children.
Astellas Pharma Inc. of Japan,
on the other hand, possessed
the necessary technology tomanufacture small pills without
the bitter taste, which makes themeasier for preschool-aged children
to swallow, and collaborated withMerck to develop a pediatric drug
for schistosomiasis. If approved,
the drug may bring relief to morethan 50 million children sufferingfrom the disease.
“Japan prioritized measuresagainst infectious diseases as oneof the important agenda items at
the G8 Kyushu-Okinawa Summitin 2000. Since then, the country
has continued to emphasize theimportance of global health,”
Kunii explains. At the G7 IseShima Summit in 2016, thepromotion of universal healthcoverage—the idea that everyone,everywhere, should be able toIn addition to AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis,
NTDs are rampant in developing countries. The
GHIT Fund was established as a means of linking
Japanese technology and innovations with thedevelopment of new tools to combat those diseases.

access quality health services—
was presented for the first time
as a major agenda item. “Japanhas continued to assert that anemphasis on health would increase
the resilience of communities andreduce poverty,” says Kunii. At apress conference following the G7
Hiroshima Summit in May of thisyear, Prime Minister KISHIDA
Fumio mentioned that Japanplanned to make contributions
totaling approximately 7.5 billion
U.S. dollars from the public
and private sectors toward theenhancement of global health,including a 200 million U.S.
dollar pledge to the GHIT Fundby the government.
Going forward, the GHIT
Fund will further accelerate thedevelopment of various drugs,vaccines, and diagnostics, withadditional plans in place to fortify
efforts and partnerships to deliver
the products resulting from thatwork to the people in need byensuring equitable and timely
access. Kunii concludes, “TheGHIT Fund will be the leverageand catalyst to make our world
better. We want to be a driving
force for a greater future.”