ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

Global Health
R&D Showcase
he ongoing effort to control
the infectious diseases thatafflict the world’s poorest is along-fought battle. Millions of people indeveloping countries continue to sufferfrom malaria, tuberculosis and neglected
tropical diseases. But now the fight isbeing approached from a new perspective,
thanks to the Japan-based Global HealthInnovative Technology (GHIT) Fund.
This fund is the first public–private
partnership for funding global healthresearch and development. Launched little
over a year ago with over US$100 millionof investment capital, the three-way
partnership between the Japanese government, leading Japanese pharmaceuticalcompanies, and the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation is already supporting 21 global
product development partnerships.

TPutting global health on the agenda
To mark the first anniversary of thefund’s inauguration, a Global Health R&D
Showcase was held in Tokyo, Japan, on
6 June 2014. BT Slingsby, CEO and executive director of the GHIT Fund, welcomed
the diverse audience of over 350 attendees
and explained that the fund was created totap into Japanese innovation with the goalof eliminating infectious diseases by developing better global health technologies.
Peter Piot, director of the London Schoolof Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, opened

proceedings by discussing Japan’s pastexperiences with infectious disease, whichwere a principal stimulus of the GHIT
Fund’s mission. Infectious and parasitic
diseases were common in prewar Japan, but
after the Second World War the provision ofa public health service and the eradicationof these diseases were made a priority.
From its recovery, Japan has been able toforge one of the world’s largest economies.
He also noted that Japan was the first
country to put global health on the agenda
of industrialized nations with its presentation of the Okinawa Infectious Diseases
Initiative at the Kyushu–Okinawa G8
Summit in 2000. The GHIT Fund is continuing that groundbreaking tradition, he said.
“There is no doubt that the GHIT Fundis a pioneer,” said Piot. “Pharma is joining
forces for the first time, with significant
government involvement, to capitalize ona treasury of pharmaceutical discovery
in Japan.”
New drugs for malaria
Reflecting the magnitude of the taskthat the GHIT Fund has set itself, sixeminent panelists at the anniversary eventdiscussed three projects backed during thefund’s first year.
Medicines for Malaria Venture andTakeda Pharmaceutical Company of Japanare collaborating on two new experimental
drugs for malaria. “Takeda is offering its

pharmaceutical and chemistry, manufacturing and control expertise,” explainedpresident and CEO of Takeda, Yasuchika
Hasegawa. The result is new formulations
with improved solubility, allowing
researchers to trial viable alternatives toexisting treatments.
The discovery of new medicines is vitalfor a disease that is constantly developing
resistance to existing treatments. TheGHIT Fund is also helping the process ofdrug discovery by enabling access to thedrug libraries of Japanese pharmaceuticalcompanies such as Takeda. In less than ayear of partnership, Medicines for Malaria
Venture has already obtained encouraging
data from its screening program, which
will allow it to evaluate the next steps
toward drug development.
The partnership has been particularly
rewarding for Takeda’s research leaders,
who typically focus on developing treatments for non-communicable diseases
aimed at affluent markets such as Japan.
“Without partnering with the GHIT Fund,
we would not have had the opportunity
to focus on infectious diseases such asmalaria,” Hasegawa said.
David Reddy, CEO of Medicines for
Malaria Venture, pointed out that theassets of Japanese pharmaceutical companies are substantial, and their willingness
to partner with nonprofit organizations istremendous. “We’re together on one side ofthe table, with the problem on the other.”
Combinations for Chagas disease
A second collaboration funded by theGHIT Fund is a clinical trial of a treatment
for Chagas disease, which is being jointly

ADVERTISER RETAINS SOLE RESPONSIBILITY FOR CONTENTADVERTISEMENT FEATURE

An event to mark the firstanniversary of a groundbreaking
collaboration between the Japanese
government, pharmaceutical firms, andthe Bill and Melinda Gates Foundationdelivered a key message — healthypeople create healthy economies.

run by the Drugs for Neglected Diseases
initiative and the Japanese pharmaceuticalfirm Eisai. Chagas disease is caused byinfection with the protozoan parasite
Trypanosoma cruzi and is prevalent in
Latin America and the Caribbean.
So far, few treatments for Chagas
disease have been tested in clinical trials.
Bernard Pécoul, executive director of theDrugs for Neglected Diseases initiative,explained that the collaboration with Eisai
is investigating a combination therapy toimprove management of the chronic phaseof the disease. This therapy consists of a
new drug originally developed by Eisai as
an antifungal and benznidazole, an existing treatment. If successful, Eisai’s drug
will be made available at cost.
Based on its success to date, the Drugs
for Neglected Diseases initiative hopes touse its partnership with Eisai as a model
for its entire portfolio of candidate drug
compounds, Pécoul noted.
Haruo Naito, president and CEO ofEisai, said this kind of collaboration brings
many benefits.
“The mission of modern pharmaceuticalcompanies is not just to contribute tosolving diseases in economically developedcountries. We need to ensure that weoffer new treatments to the greater global
community, including developing countries
as well,” he said.
The huge cost of drug development
means public–private partnerships are
an important mechanism for developing
treatments for infectious diseases. “Weneed to share risks and funding, and themechanism offered by the GHIT Fund isexcellent for this.”Treating schistosomiasis inpreschool children
Another collaboration highlighted at theshowcase is focused on schistosomiasis,an infection caused by parasitic worms
that afflicts more than 240 million people
across 78 countries.
The project aims to develop a pediatricformulation of praziquantel, the World
Health Organization-recommended
treatment for schistosomiasis, and brings
together the expertise of the PediatricPraziquantel Consortium’s six partners— one of which is Japan’s Astellas Pharma.
Currently, administering praziquantel
to children is beset by several difficulties.
There is a lack of clinical trial data forchildren under the age of four and thelarge tablets are difficult to swallow andbitter when crushed.
Astellas’s chairman Masafumi Nogimori
explained that to overcome the problems
with administering treatment, the company provided the consortium with theinitial technology to produce a smaller andless bitter tablet that is orally dispersible,
making it suitable for very young children.
In collaboration with consortium partners,
production has now been scaled up and optimized, and in principle the formulation
can be manufactured locally and storedin the hot and humid tropical climates ofendemic countries.
The new pediatric formulation is now
moving into the clinical development phase.
This will generate vital data in young children with the goal of achieving registrationof the formulation in endemic countries.
“Japanese research institutions anduniversities, the Japanese government, as

ADVERTISER RETAINS SOLE RESPONSIBILITY FOR CONTENT

well as private companies, have accumulated a lot of know-how to develop medicines
for the treatment of infectious diseases
throughout historical fights against
soil-transmitted parasites and malaria
in Japan,” Nogimori noted. “It therefore
makes sense to integrate this know-how
under the public–private partnershipresearch model in order to expedite orincrease the chances of the development ofnew therapeutic agents.”
Trevor Mundel, president of the Global
Health Division of the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation, expressed his happinessthat the private-sector companies brought
together by the GHIT Fund over thelast year have already developed a richportfolio and are keen to expand theirpartnerships over the next few years.
In closing the event, Kiyoshi Kurokawa,chair of the GHIT Fund board, noted thatJapan’s advanced technology could haveenormous impact if applied more widelyaround the world.
Through sharing ideas, healthcare
innovations and knowledge, Japanesecompanies can make a great contribution
to combating infectious disease. Thanks
to the unique funding and perspectives of
the GHIT Fund, he said, the prognosis isextremely positive.

URL: www.ghitfund.org
Email: info@ghitfund.org