Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT)

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The Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund), headquartered in Japan, is an international public-private partnership between the Government of Japan (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare), seven Japanese pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies (Astellas, Chugai, Eisai, Daiichi Sankyo, Shionogi, Sysmex and Takeda), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and United Nations Development Programme. It funds scientific research and development for anti-infectives and diagnostics for diseases that primarily affect the developing world.[1][2]

Role in Global Health Sector

The GHIT Fund is the first public-private partnership fund to involve a national government, a UN agency, a consortium of pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies, and international philanthropic foundations.[3][4] It was founded in 2013 with an initial commitment of over US$100 million after the government of Japan made global health a key priority within its overseas development aid budget.[5] The Fund is built on the idea that new investment and innovation is needed to address some of the world’s most neglected diseases[6] and that Japan – a leader in health technologies innovation – could be doing more in the global fight against infectious diseases.[7]

The public-private partnership model, the inclusion of a while pharmaceutical sector and the structure of individual research projects across sectors and national boundaries are all aimed at reducing the R&D risk to any one entity and to ensure that findings are open to all, according to the Fund's CEO and Executive Director BT Slingsby.[8]

Because of the business model of the Fund and the structure of the partnerships it funds, some view the Fund as a game-changer for global health financing. For instance, Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, said: "The GHIT Fund has stepped in to provide that incentive in a pioneering model of partnership that brings Japanese innovation, investment and leadership to the global fight against infectious disease."[9]

One specific asset the Japan pharmaceutical industry contributes is access to its vast library of chemical compounds coming out of prior drug research; the Fund's partner companies have agreed to open up these compound libraries to research with the Drugs for Neglected Disease Initiative, joining UK-based AstraZeneca in the effort.[10] "Another key opportunity the GHIT Fund has created has been to help open the doors of Japan’s public and private drug compound libraries to product development partnerships, which makes possible the screening of tens of thousands of drug candidates for potential new treatments."[11]

The participating companies view their investments into neglected diseases through the Fund as a long-term investment into the future, rather than charity. They see the Fund as a necessary catalyst for having allowed them to pursue this line of research.[12]

Mission

In their own words, the vision of the founders of the GHIT Fund is “one in which the crushing burden of infectious disease no longer prevents billions of people in the developing world from seeking the level of prosperity and longevity now common in the industrialized world”.[13]

The Fund’s stated mission is to “to facilitate international partnerships that enable Japanese technology, innovations, and insights to play a more direct role in reducing disparities in health between the rich and the poor of the world.”[14]

Leadership and Governance

GHIT is governed and managed by an international Board; Dr. Kiyoshi Kurokawa[15] is Chair of the Board and Dr. BT Slingsby is the founding CEO and Executive Director.[16]

GHIT's website explains how the Fund ensures impartiality in its funding activities. Its Selection Committee is free of large pharma representatives to avoid conflicts of interest between the Fund's financial backers and development partners.[17] GHIT funding need not go to the same private companies represented on its "Council" but rather may be directed to a development partnership with any institution in Japan.[18]

Funding from Partners

The original partners to the Fund have initially committed over US$100 million over 5 years. Half comes from the two Japanese ministries, and the other half comes from Japanese pharma Astellas, Chugai, Eisai, Daiichi Sankyo, Shionogi, and Takeda together with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.[19][20][21]

New partners Sysmex and the Wellcome Trust joined in summer 2015. The Wellcome Trust alone brought in an additional approximately US$4.6 million through January 2017 [22]

Three additional companies (All Nippon Airways, law firm Morrison Foerster LLP, and Yahoo!Japan) joined the Fund as sponsors in the summer of 2015 to provide in-kind services in support of the Fund’s work. Yahoo!Japan has co-launched a special joint website with the Fund: “Save millions of lives from infectious diseases”.[23]

Investment Activity

The GHIT Fund invests in R&D partnerships among Japanese pharmaceutical companies and research institutes and universities with non-Japanese research institutes and universities.[24] This gives researchers around the world access to Japanese expertise and investment.[25] The Fund deliberately refers to grants as "investments" and grantees as "development partners" to underscore the accountability,communication, and results the organizations. GHIT's expected return on investment is global health and socioeconomic impact.

Grant investments go to R&D projects that aim to develop new health technologies for infectious diseases, predominantly drug treatments and vaccines, but possibly also diagnostic technologies in the future. Diseases targeted by the Fund include malaria, tuberculosis, and neglected tropical diseases.[26] The Fund also works with established product development partnerships such as the Global Alliance for Tuberculosis Drug Development (TB Alliance), Medicines for Malaria Venture, and Geneva-based Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative to screen the large quantity of potential drug candidates residing in private and public sector chemical compound libraries in Japan.[27]

In February 2015, GHIT launched its Target Research Platform in Partnership with Grand Challenges in Global Health, which will invest up to ¥100 million (US$1 million) for early stage development and approximately ¥200 million (US$2 million) in Grand Challenges grant investments per year. These projects will then graduate into GHIT’s regular investment program which invests in a pipeline of new tools for neglected diseases.[28]

In May 2015, the GHIT Fund self-stated that its portfolio at the time was at $43 million.[29] The following handful of investment examples illustrates the types of partnerships within and outside Japan and across sectors:

  • US$766,000 to PATH’s Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI) and Ehime University to fast-track the research and manufacture of a novel malaria vaccine candidate (Pf75) that aims to block malaria parasite transmission from humans to mosquitoes.[30][31][32]
  • US$3.83 million to Japan’s National Institute of Biomedical Innovation (NIBIO), Aeras, and Create Vaccine Company, Ltd (CREATE) on the preclinical and clinical development of new mucosal TB vaccines based on NIBIO’s human parainfluenza type-2 (rhPIV2) vector technology.[33][34]
  • US$3.84 million, to Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and Eisai of Japan for a new combination therapy for Chagas disease consisting of benznidazole and an experimental triazole compound known as E1224.[35]
  • US$4.9 million to the Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium to continue development work on the pediatric formulation to combat schistosomiasis in pre-school children.[36]
  • ¥4 million (approximately USD$33K) to Geneva-based Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and Japanese pharmaceutical firm Takeda for the development of a new visceral leishmaniasis (VL) drug.[37]

In addition to such major grants, since February 2015 the Fund also invests up to $1 million for up to 2 years for early stage development of promising drugs, vaccines and diagnostics for neglected diseases, again with the requirement that a Japanese entity must be part of the project.[38]

The GHIT Fund's full investment portfolio, with detailed background on specific development partnerships, is on its website.[39]

Impact

Products resulting from research must be appropriate, effective, affordable, and accessible for the poorest of the poor.[40] In fact, all grant investment proposals must prioritize open innovation[41] and guarantee that products will be developed on a "no gain, no loss" basis,[42] meaning in the poorest countries drugs will be licensed without royalties, while in others, they will be licensed at cost.[43]

According to its own website, GHIT tracks the impact of its investments using quantitative indicators that are standard in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries (namely, product development milestones achieved, Stage-Gates graduated, and number of indications undergoing R&D), as well case studies on socioeconomic impact. More information on impact can be found on GHIT's website.[44]

References

  1. ↑ “Japan in pioneering partnership to fund global health research”, by Andrew Jack, Financial Times, May 30, 2013
  2. ↑ “Japanese Global Health Fund Welcomes the Wellcome Trust and Sysmex Corporation as New Funders and ANA, Morrison & Foerster, and Yahoo! Japan as New Sponsors”, PR Newswire, June 3, 2015, (http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/japanese-global-health-fund-welcomes-the-wellcome-trust-and-sysmex-corporation-as-new-funders-and-ana-morrison--foerster-and-yahoo-japan-as-new-sponsors-300093066.html), accessed on 9/28/2015
  3. ↑ “The Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund: financing medical innovations for neglected populations”, by BT Slingsby and Kiyoshi Kurokawa, The Lancet: Global Health, October 2013, Volume 1, pp.e184-185 (http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(13)70055-X/fulltext)
  4. ↑ “Investing In Drugs That Won't Make Money”, Forbes, April 30, 2015, (http://www.forbes.com/sites/medidata/2015/04/30/investing-in-drugs-that-wont-make-money/), accessed on 9/28/2015
  5. ↑ “The Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund: financing medical innovations for neglected populations”, by BT Slingsby and Kiyoshi Kurokawa, The Lancet: Global Health, October 2013, Volume 1, pp.e184-185 (http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(13)70055-X/fulltext)
  6. ↑ “Japan and Partners Team Up to Tackle Neglected Diseases”, by Dina Fine Maron, Scientific American, November 8, 2013 (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=japan-and-partners-team)
  7. ↑ “Joining the Fight Against Neglected Diseases”, Science magazine, June 7, 2013, Volume 340, p.1148
  8. ↑ “Investing In Drugs That Won't Make Money”, Forbes, April 30, 2015, (http://www.forbes.com/sites/medidata/2015/04/30/investing-in-drugs-that-wont-make-money/), accessed on 9/28/2015
  9. ↑ See WHO's video featuring Margeret Chan, WHO Director-General, here: https://ghitfund.org/general/eventreport2015
  10. ↑ “Japanese Companies Attack Neglected Diseases”, by Donald G. McNeill Jr., New York Times, June 1, 2015, (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/health/japanese-companies-attack-neglected-diseases.html?_r=0) , accessed on 09/18/2015
  11. ↑ “The Value of Product Development Partnerships”, The National Bureau of Asian Research, August 11, 2014 (http://nbr.org/research/activity.aspx?id=477)
  12. ↑ “Japanese drugmakers addressing neglected tropical diseases, and not just out of altruism”, Japan Times, January 6, 2015, (http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/01/06/national/science-health/japanese-drugmakers-addressing-neglected-tropical-diseases-and-not-just-out-of-altruism?utm_campaign=KFF%3A+Global+Health+Report&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=15472323&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--eDo7Aql3yZTIYzqLd8ch1nlYuggQTgOmjz3-32M9gn3IulHDQnVAXK4sEdynfIurWMlME9f6XH2GM2yYZ01Wl9LtgANF7bQ7IlKTqV50R7P0ngro&_hsmi=15472323#.Vgm81SvSta-), accessed on 9/28/2015
  13. ↑ GHIT Fund website: About the GHIT Fund (www.ghitfund.org/about/orgnization/mission), accessed on 09/30/2014
  14. ↑ GHIT Fund website: About the GHIT Fund (www.ghitfund.org/about/orgnization/mission), accessed on 09/30/2014
  15. ↑ ja:黒川清
  16. ↑ https://www.ghitfund.org/about/governance/leadership
  17. ↑ https://www.ghitfund.org/about/governance/committee
  18. ↑ https://www.ghitfund.org/about/governance/council
  19. ↑ “Japan in pioneering partnership to fund global health research”, by Andrew Jack, Financial Times, May 30, 2013
  20. ↑ “An Audience with … Tachi Yamada”, by Asher Mullard, Nature magazine, September 2013, Volume 12, p.658
  21. ↑ "Japanese drugmakers get serious about tackling dengue", by Daisaku Yamasaki and Sadachika Watanabe, NIKKEI Asian Review, 09/16/2014 (http://asia.nikkei.com/Tech-Science/Science/Japanese-drugmakers-get-serious-about-tackling-dengue), accessed on 09/30/2014
  22. ↑ “Japanese Global Health Fund Welcomes the Wellcome Trust and Sysmex Corporation as New Funders and ANA, Morrison & Foerster, and Yahoo! Japan as New Sponsors”, PR Newswire, June 3, 2015, (http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/japanese-global-health-fund-welcomes-the-wellcome-trust-and-sysmex-corporation-as-new-funders-and-ana-morrison--foerster-and-yahoo-japan-as-new-sponsors-300093066.html), accessed on 9/28/2015
  23. ↑ “Japanese Global Health Fund Welcomes the Wellcome Trust and Sysmex Corporation as New Funders and ANA, Morrison & Foerster, and Yahoo! Japan as New Sponsors”, PR Newswire, June 3, 2015, (http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/japanese-global-health-fund-welcomes-the-wellcome-trust-and-sysmex-corporation-as-new-funders-and-ana-morrison--foerster-and-yahoo-japan-as-new-sponsors-300093066.html), accessed on 9/28/2015
  24. ↑ “Give and It Shall Be Given unto You”, The Economist, November 16–22, 2013, p.72
  25. ↑ “An Audience with … Tachi Yamada”, by Asher Mullard, Nature magazine, September 2013, Volume 12, p.658
  26. ↑ “Japan in pioneering partnership to fund global health research”, by Andrew Jack, Financial Times, May 30, 2013
  27. ↑ “Joining the Fight Against Neglected Diseases”, Science magazine, June 7, 2013, Volume 340, p.1148
  28. ↑ "GHIT Funds Grand Challenges", Asian Scientist Magazine, February 9, 2015 (http://www.asianscientist.com/2015/02/topnews/ghit-funds-grand-challenges/), accessed on 10/20/2015
  29. ↑ “GHIT Fund Expands Portfolio to Nearly $43 Million with Inclusion of First Diagnostic Technology, New Drug Series for Leishmaniasis, and Four New Companies to its Screening Platform”, GHIT website, May 22, 2015, (https://www.ghitfund.org/about/mediacenter/pressdetail/detail/132), accessed on 9/30/2015
  30. ↑ “Japanese Universities Look to Swat Malaria Bug”, NIKKEI Asian Review, January 30, 2014 (http://asia.nikkei.com/magazine/20140130-The-wages-of-growth/Tech-Science/Japanese-universities-look-to-swat-malaria-bug), accessed on 09/30/2014
  31. ↑ PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, (http://www.malariavaccine.org/GlobalHealthInnovativeTechnologyFundawardsUS766000tothePATHMalariaVaccineInitiative.php), accessed on 09/30/2014
  32. ↑ “Japanese Global Health Fund Awards $33.5 Million in Grant Investments in Less Than a Year to Develop Vaccines and Drugs for Neglected Diseases”, by Global Health Technology Fund, The Sacramento Bee, September 15, 2014 (http://www.sacbee.com/2014/09/15/6709515/japanese-global-health-fund-awards.html), accessed on 09/30/2014
  33. ↑ http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=108330020, accessed on 12/05/2014
  34. ↑ http://www.aeras.org/pressreleases/global-collaboration-forms-to-advance-japanese-tb-vaccine-technology
  35. ↑ http://www.orphan-drugs.org/2014/03/21/japanese-fund-awards-12-million-develop-innovative-tools-chagas-disease-schistosomiasis-parasitic-roundworms-tuberculosis/
  36. ↑ “Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium Awarded USD4.9 Million Grant from Global Health Innovative Technology Fund”, PR Newswire, May 29, 2015, (http://www.bizjournals.com/prnewswire/press_releases/2015/05/29/enUK201505299460), accessed on 9/30/2015
  37. ↑ “Takeda Partners for Neglected Tropical Disease Drug Candidate”, Drug, Chemical & Associated Technologies Association, July 29, 2015, (http://connect.dcat.org/blogs/pharma-news/2015/07/29/takeda-ddni#.VgxUAivurmY), accessed on 9/30/2015
  38. ↑ “Japanese foundation joins the public health Grand Challenge bandwagon”, by Dennis Normile, Science Magazine, February 4, 2015, (http://news.sciencemag.org/asiapacific/2015/02/japanese-foundation-joins-public-health-grand-challenge-bandwagon), accessed on 9/28/2015
  39. ↑ https://ghitfund.org/impact/portfolio
  40. ↑ “The Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund: financing medical innovations for neglected populations”, by BT Slingsby and Kiyoshi Kurokawa, The Lancet: Global Health, October 2013, Volume 1, pp.e184-185 (http://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(13)70055-X/fulltext)
  41. ↑ Open innovation
  42. ↑ “Japan in pioneering partnership to fund global health research”, by Andrew Jack, Financial Times, May 30, 2013
  43. ↑ “Give and It Shall Be Given unto You”, The Economist, November 16–22, 2013, p.72
  44. ↑ https://www.ghitfund.org/impact/impact/en

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