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Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV)

Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to reducing the burden of malaria in disease-endemic countries by discovering, developing, and facilitating delivery of new, effective, and affordable antimalarial drugs to vulnerable and under-served populations. Our vision is a world in which these innovative medicines will cure and protect the millions at risk of malaria and help to ultimately eradicate this terrible disease.

MMV’s mission is to bring public, private, and philanthropic partners together to fund and manage the discovery, development, and delivery of new medicines for the treatment and prevention of malaria in disease-endemic countries.

Photo by Anna Wang, VP, Public Affairs, MMV

Aiming for Eradication

In 2000, MMV was a pioneering newcomer to the world of antimalarial drug research. More people were dying from malaria than ever before. The malaria parasite had become resistant to widely used drugs, including two inexpensive medications, chloroquine and sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP). New medicines were desperately needed as malaria continued to afflict and take the lives of countless millions in Africa. In addition, owing to cost, poor health systems, inadequate distribution networks, and policy challenges, existing drugs were too often not reaching malaria’s main victims, the rural poor.

Over the years, MMV has nurtured and developed productive partnerships with doctors and scientists from both public and private sectors. The strength of this public-private partnership model and rigorous portfolio management make it a highly cost-effective and productive research and development (R&D) organization.

Photo by Anna Wang, VP, Public Affairs, MMV

Today, MMV works with over 100 partners and more than 600 scientists and clinicians in 38 countries. Each pharmaceutical, academic, and endemic-country partner brings expertise, enabling technologies, and research facilities. Funding from private foundations and governments is used to leverage further private sector assets. The success of this operational model creates a virtuous circle that has brought in new donors and stakeholders.

MMV has created the largest and most diverse portfolio of antimalarial drug discovery and development projects in history, including 19 completely new classes of compounds. Of the three new drugs in late-stage development in the process of being registered by stringent regulatory authorities, one, a dispersible ACT specially designed for children, gained market authorization in December 2008 from Swissmedic, a regulatory authority. Coartem® Dispersible has also been approved by 17 African drug regulatory authorities and more countries are being added to the list. The medicine was launched in Switzerland in January 2009, and in three African countries in February 2009. The two other artemisinin combination therapies are expected to be submitted for registration in 2009.

With over USD 330 million received and committed from government agencies, private foundations, international organizations, and corporate foundations; research carried out in the labs and clinical trial sites of its research partners; and industry partners contributing to the effort with staff, facilities, and technology, MMV is well set to deliver a range of new medicines. These will be the tip of the spear that, with an array of other tools and strategies, will finally be capable of eradicating malaria once and for all.