Who runs faster? 
Every two  minutes, a child below the age of five dies from Malaria

the EU Malaria Fund

The EU Malaria Fund is a public-private partnership between the European Union, International Organizations, corporations, and organized civic society, providing a novel funding instrument to address market failures in infectious diseases with significant relevance to public health globally. It has been initiated by kENUP Foundation, the Fund's supreme organ is the Scientific Advisory Council. The Fund was inaugurated during a public ceremony held online on June 3, 2020. 

On July 26, 2021, the partnership "eradicateMalaria" has announced their project to support BioNTech SE in developing the first mRNA-based prophylactic malaria vaccine, and to set-up industrial infrastructures in Africa for its  end-to-end manufacturing. Thus, the success of COVID-19 vaccines creates a novel, global opportunity for the fight against malaria. 

Therefore, the EU Malaria Fund has successfully accomplished its mission earlier than expected. Therefore, on September 30, 2021, its investment period has ended. The Fund looks back at successfully initiating more than two dozen novel scientific approaches to the fight against malaria, and  on financing numerous innovative companies. 

The EU Malaria Fund aims to conclude all investments already in concrete negotiations, following positive decision by all its Committees, and disburse those to the companies in case the respective financing contracts will be signed timely, and provided that the preconditions for disbursements are fulfilled prior to September 30, 2021. Thereafter, the EU Malaria Fund will service the investment portfolio until the end of the post-investment phase period. Accordingly, the Fund’s governance will for the most part remain intact. No additional funding and investments will be made by the Fund, and it will thus not call upon further disbursements from its investors. 

The EU Malaria Fund’s Investment Decision Committee (IDC) will be dissolved, while the Scientific Advisory Council (SAC) with its nine distinguished members will serve as eradicateMalaria’s  Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) as of July 1, 2021. kENUP Foundation will be introducing the EU Malaria Fund’s portfolio companies to relevant third parties in support of their future financing needs. Investments related to the manufacturing of current, and especially next-generation anti-malarials in Sub-Saharan Africa will be pursued in coordination with Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV).

During its investment period, The EU Malaria Fund has aimed to
  • Support the control, and potentially eradication, of malaria;
  • Provide venture loans at preferential terms to incorporated, scientifically promising projects not yet pursued by the pharmaceutical industry, thus helping to extend the deal-flow in the domain of tropical diseases;
  • Fund platform projects allowing for secondary exploitations of their anti-malaria assets, for example into COVID-19; 
  • Work with a thoroughly considered portfolio of pre-selected  companies, thus ensuring its ability to fund  malaria R&D right away; 
  • Serve as a “case-in-point” for the set-up of similar funding instruments to address other pressing medical needs with underlying market failures comparable to those in malaria (for example: NDDs, AMR).

the need

"Progress in the global malaria response has unquestionably stalled. Clearly, to get the response back on track, increased funding is urgently needed from international donors and endemic countries. Critical gaps in access to tools that prevent, diagnose and treat malaria must be found and filled."   
Dr. Pedro Alonso, Director, WHO Global Malaria Programme, December 2017 bulletin

the problem

"There is a market failure around the development of interventions against diseases primarily affecting the Global South: high risk in product development is associated with little potential profit. So, once a project leaves academia, companies are usually not investing"    
Holm Keller, Executive Chairman, kENUP Foundation, Supplement to The Guardian , April 25, 2019
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