BRIEF—Japanese firms get GHIT funding for malaria drug development

Japanese pharma majors Takeda and Shionogi will each receive about 130 million yen ($9.7 million) from the Japanese GHIT Fund to invest in malaria drugs development, according to a GHIT announcement issued on March 13.

On the same day, Shionogi announced a partnership with Nagasaki University and the Swiss research institute Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) to start a R&D project.

MMV also is a research partner with Takeda.

Both Shionogi and Takeda are GHIT partners, which also include the Japanese government and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The fund focuses on treatments for tropical diseases.