Notice of Collaboration Agreement for the Discovery and Development of Novel Malaria Drugs with Nagasaki University and MMV, Supported by the GHIT Fund

OSAKA, Japan, March 13, 2023 - Shionogi & Co., Ltd.  (Head Office: Osaka, Japan; Chief Executive Officer: Isao Teshirogi, Ph.D.; hereafter "Shionogi") announced that Shionogi has entered into a collaboration agreement to create new drugs for malaria with Nagasaki University (Administrative office：Nagasaki; President : Shigeru Kohno, M.D., Ph.D.) and the not-for-profit research and development organization,  Medicines for Malaria Venture (hereafter ”MMV”) . This collaboration that MMV has now joined will be funded by the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (hereafter “GHIT Fund”).

Malaria is one of the top 3 infectious diseases worldwide, along with AIDS and tuberculosis, and mainly occurs in tropical and subtropical regions. The number of newly diagnosed patients is estimated to be 250 million/year, resulting in about 620 thousand deaths¹. Because a sufficiently effective preventive vaccine does not yet exist, and because a number of the parasites have developed resistance to current treatments, there is still substantial unmet medical need, and malaria remains a serious threat to mankind globally.

Shionogi has entered into a comprehensive cooperation agreement with Nagasaki University², pursuing research for the prevention, treatment of malaria. With the addition of MMV, this collaboration will pursue new malaria drugs and seek to create development candidate compounds. MMV is an international non-profit organization that is involved in the development of malaria drugs around the world, and this new collaboration will allow us to accelerate the evaluation and the development of candidate compounds.

Shionogi is committed to “Protect people worldwide from the threat of infectious diseases” as our key focus. We are not only conducting research and development of novel therapeutics, but we are also working towards total care, through building awareness, epidemiologic monitoring, prevention, diagnosis, and addressing exacerbations, as well as treating the infection itself. As a leading company in infectious diseases, we will continue to actively address a range of infectious diseases, including the world's top 3 infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance, and COVID-19, which constitute major public health issues.

GHIT Fund was established in 2013 for the purpose of developing medicines, vaccines, and diagnostics using Japanese technologies, knowledges and innovations aiming to control infectious diseases that threaten people especially in developing countries, for example tuberculosis, malaria, and neglected tropical diseases. Since the establishment of the GHIT Fund, we have contributed to the first and second phases of its activities³.

For more information, please visit GHIT Fund | Global Health Innovative Technology Fund

MMV is a leading product development partnership in the field of antimalarial drug research, development and delivery. Its mission is to reduce the burden of malaria in disease-endemic countries by discovering, developing and delivering new, effective and affordable antimalarial drugs. MMV’s 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.

For more information, please visit Medicines for Malaria Venture | Developing antimalarials to save lives

Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University aims to overcome tropical diseases, particularly infectious diseases, and the various health problems associated with them. Shionogi intends to establish Shionogi Infectious Disease Division as a collaborative research division at Institute of Tropical Medicine of Nagasaki University, and accelerate and facilitate drug discovery research for malaria.

For more information, please visit Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University (nagasaki-u.ac.jp)

1. WHO fact sheets (2022/12/08, 8 December 2022)

2. Shionogi enters into Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement in the Field of Infectious Desease Focused 　on Malaria with Nagasaki University

3. The first phase, The second phase

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