Japan’s first public-private partnership to advance the development of new health technologies for the developing world The Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund) has officially launched. The GHIT Fund has been established to advance the R&D of new medicines, vaccines and diagnostics to fight infectious diseases in the developing world.

The GHIT Fund aims to reinforce Japan’s contribution to global health by developing new health technologies, utilizing the highly developed science and technology capacity found at the country’s pharmaceutical companies, universities and research institutions. In providing grants for promising research, the Fund will help bridge the gap between basic research and clinical studies, allowing for unprecedented medicines, vaccines and diagnostics.

To eliminate HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs)—which affect over 1 billion people worldwide—highly effective/low-cost medicines, vaccines and diagnostics are much needed. The GHIT Fund will facilitate and fund global R&D partnerships that aim to discover and develop new medicines, vaccines and diagnostics that can help realize the elimination of these diseases in the developing world.

The GHIT Fund was established as a public-private partnership between the government of Japan, a consortium of Japanese pharmaceutical companies—Astellas Pharma, Daiichi Sankyo, Eisai, Shionogi & Co., Takeda Pharmaceuticals and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The GHIT Fund will proactively seek out further investment partners to advance new health technologies for the developing world, and the betterment of healthcare globally.