Abstract
Bill Gates last week snatched the title of the largest single donor to malaria research in the world—an accolade previously held by the US Government—when he announced that the foundation he set up with his wife, Melinda, will commit a further US$258·3 million to studying the disease and developing treatments. The money will be split three ways: $107·6 million goes to the Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), to bring its most advanced vaccine candidate to market; $100 million to the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), to advance clinical development of its 20 promising anti-malaria drug candidates; and $50·7 million to the Innovative Vector Control Consortium, to investigating insecticides that are safer, more effective, and longer lasting than those currently available. The extra funding will reduce the time needed for development of a vaccine for children to 6 years, shaving 4 years off previous estimates. In answer to critics who claim that his funding ignores one of the major crises in developing countries—human resources—this time Gates is tackling both research and infrastructure problems. The MVI and MMV projects will be investing in eight clinical trial sites in Africa, giving local individuals experience of doing the clinical trials necessary for product licensing. And although the details of regulatory approval for potential products are still under discussion, MVI is working with WHO to advance an initiative that would allow EMEA, the European drug regulator, to give opinions on products to be used only in the developing world, thereby helping improve standards of local regulatory decision-making. These plans are a massive boost to malaria research. But an analysis done by an alliance of malaria research organisations, and released at the same time as Gates' announcement, illustrates the scale of the funding deficit holding back anti-malaria efforts. The report estimates that $3·2 billion needs to be invested each year to halve malaria deaths by 2010. Last year, the total investment was only $323 million. Gates has thrown down the gauntlet for malaria research and treatment. The challenge now is for other funders to follow.
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