Anonymous Letter March 14, 2020
On March 12, 2020, the EU Malaria Fund has received an anonymous letter dated February 10, 2020. The author of this letter accuses the Fund of various wrongdoings. As none of these accusations are accurate, we herewith provide the following correct information:
  1. The Fund’s latest Investment Guidelines are available on the Fund’s website (https://www.controlmalaria.eu/governance)

  2. All projects included in the Fund’s initial portfolio and listed in the respective section of the Fund’s website have received initial approval by the Scientific Advisory Council in March and June 2019. The Fund’s website provides the following additional information on this topic: “Being part of the fund’s initial portfolio grants companies the right to submit financing requests to the fund, following the fund’s operating procedures published in the Governance section of this website. Thus, companies included in the initial portfolio are not guaranteed to receive funding.” (https://www.controlmalaria.eu/portfolio) As stipulated in the published Investment Guidelines mentioned above, the second step of the this approval process is currently being conducted, based on up-to-date information provided by the portfolio companies. 

  3. The Siena Vaccines Hub has not interfered in the internal procedures of the Fund. Fondazione Monte dei Paschi di Siena is an investor in the Fund though, as published on the Fund’s website (https://www.controlmalaria.eu/partners).

  4. With the Fund’s projects evolving, also the geographical distribution is constantly changing. Irrespective, the expected total spending of the Fund in the Global South amounts to about 50% of its anticipated investment - a share that is almost constant since the Fund has been initiated. More information on the Fund’s prospective spending in the Global South can be found here: https://www.controlmalaria.eu/sites

  5. The Fund has not adapted discriminatory policies against the United Kingdom. However, it is implementing EU policy as provided on EIB’s website: “The UK received EFSI financing during its membership of the EU. Following its withdrawal from the EU, the UK does not receive any new support under EFSI.” (https://www.eib.org/en/efsi/index.htm). As it is the Fund's main goal is to promote the best and most impactful measures against Malaria, we welcome innovative science from all over the world - including from outside the European Union - and link these teams to companies inside the EU for further development. 
Finally , we do encourage the author of the above-mentioned anonymous letter to get in touch with us, as we should all be jointly pursuing a greater public good of fighting Malaria. 

March 14, 2020 in Kalkara / Malta
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