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    EU Malaria Fund adds six new companies to its portfolio

    During its 8th Session held on December 18, 2020, the Scientific Advisory Council of the EU Malaria Fund has included the following six companies to the Fund's portfolio: 

    Global Access Diagnostics (with Mologic), In2Care (with Wageningen University & Research), Konica Minolta Austria (with the University of Pretoria), Serum Institute of India (with Oxford University's Jenner Institute, advised by Lion’s Head Global Partners), Takis Biotech S.r.l, (with Rottapharm Biotech S.r.l., IGEA S.p.A., DPhar S.p.A., and Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute) as well as VicuTec Biologicals GmbH (with Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry and University Medical Center in Göttingen). 

    All of us at the EU Malaria Fund warmly welcome our new partners, and express our deep gratitude for their encouraging support of the global fight against Malaria. 
    EU Malaria Fund at the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Annual Meeting 2020

    The EU Malaria Fund was presented at the Parasitology Pre-meeting Course: "The Science and Business of Vaccines Against Tropical Parasitic Diseases in the COVID19 Era" which was held on Friday, November 13, 2020
    EU Malaria Fund: Sanaria Inc. to receive financing for development of Malaria vaccine

    On November 5, 2020, the EU Malaria Fund Berlin has presented its next investment in support of the development of interventions against the deadly disease.  Sanaria Inc. will receive 12.9M EUR for the development of two malaria vaccines, one malaria therapeutic, and one oral Sars-CoV-2 vaccine. Sanaria Inc. is a late-stage clinical biotech company located in Maryland, USA, and was founded in 2003. 

    During the signature ceremony, Dr. Stephen L. Hoffman - Sanaria’s founder and CEO - stated, “Malaria continues to exact a devastating toll, especially among the most under-served populations in sub-Saharan Africa. A vaccine to prevent malaria is an essential tool for the control and elimination of this scourge, yet the funds invested in malaria vaccine research and development have been far from sufficient compared to the magnitude of the problem. We applaud the establishment of the European Union Malaria Fund to address this critical funding gap. Sanaria was founded to develop attenuated, whole-parasite, PfSPZ vaccines for preventing malaria and we are grateful and honored to be the recipient of this financial investment by the EU Malaria Fund in Sanaria’s PfSPZ malaria vaccine program.”

    Dr. Pedro Alonso, Director of the World Health Organisation’s Global Malaria Programme, added: “Together with WHO’s technical expertise we are confident of accelerating the development of new and innovative tools. The investment of the EU Malaria Fund in Sanaria will meaningfully advance the renewed efforts in our fight against Malaria."

    Holm Keller, Co-Managing Director of the EU Malaria Fund, concluded: “We are very excited about this new investment. Sanaria is developing one of the most advanced malaria vaccines candidates worldwide. We hope that this investment will  substantially further the path towards elimination of this terrible disease."
    KELTICpharma to join the portfolio of the EU Malaria Fund

    With a decision taken on October 31, 2020, the Scientific Advisory Council of the EU Malaria Fund has included KELTICpharma to the portfolio of the Fund. 

    KELTICpharma's work is based on two discoveries recently published by its scientific founders  Prof. Andrew Tobin, Prof. Graeme Milligan and Dr. Andrew Jamieson of Glasgow University in Science ad Science Translational Medicine (Alam et al., Science 365, 884 (2019) 30 August 2019, and Prihandoko et al., Science Translational Medicine. 12, eaaw9009 (2020) 19 August 2020). 

    By identification of essential pathways the authors have established that a particular protein kinase called PfCLK3, when inhibited can not only kill the blood stage of the malaria parasite but also kill liver stage and prevent development through the sexual stages. In this way inhibitors to PfCLK3 can offer a cure, prophylaxis and a block of transmission.

    kELTICpharma is lead by CEO Dr. Elaine Sullivan. The company and Evotec SE have signed an Letter of Intent with the aim to establish a long-term product development partnership. 
    Sanaria PfSPZ Vaccines Wins Highly Commended Prophylactic Vaccine at the 13th Annual Vaccine Industry Excellence Awards

    Sanaria’s PfSPZ vaccines were shortlisted at the VIE awards with: Pfizer, Takeda, Janssen, Merck, Inovio, Geneone/Inovio, and BiondVax. Only two awards were given: Pfizer won the Award for Best Prophylactic Vaccine, with Sanaria beating out the rest.
    Hermann Bujard is dead

    It was his dream to find a vaccine against Malaria. Travelling the many roads life took this distinguished scientist and academic teacher,  Prof. Bujard worked on gene regulation and bacterial genetics before co-developing the Tet system for the precise experimental control of gene expression in mammalian cells. Now, just before the end of his life, he might have come close to achieving his main goal. His team, with support from the EU Malaria Fund, will now have to finish the development of SumayaVac without Hermann Bujard's inspirational leadership. We miss him.  
    From left to right: Bettina Stöber-Grad, Marcel Rückwald, Denis Bach, Holm Keller, Rolf-Heinrich Schäfer, Angeliki Krisilion, Federico Flossbach, Nicolai Heinzmann, Torsten Harr, Matthias von Bismarck-Osten
    Meet the team of EMM on the top of Berlin - and come to visit our offices at the IBB Tower on Bundesallee 210, 10719 Berlin.  
    From left to right: Martin von Niederhäusern, Funding Partner, Stockhorn Advisors GmbH; Lukas Stücklin, Co-Founder, Invethos AG; Marc Baumann, President, Jacques und Gloria Gossweiler-Stiftung; Holm Keller, Managing Director of the EU Malaria Fund
    Visiting their corporate offices in Bern on June 26, 2020, the EU Malaria Fund acknowledged Invethos AG and the Jacques and Gloria Gossweiler Foundation for their investment into EUMF, which eventually tipped the scales for the  EU Malaria Fund to reach its closing size on June 3, 2020. 
    The presentation of the Initial Investment of the EU Malaria Fund in AchilleS Vaccines Srl was held at Palazzo Sansedoni, Siena, on Thursday June 18, 2020 at 11:00h. 
    The Closing of the EU Malaria Fund has been announced by the European Commission on June 3, 2020.  
    On June 3, 2020, the day of the Closing of the EU Malaria Fund, The Guardian has published its annual special edition dedicated to the fight against malaria, in a print version alongside a separate online edition. 
    In a public ceremony, the EU Malaria Fund has been closed on June 3, 2020.  The press release of the European Investment Bank EIB can be found here, kENUP Foundation's parallel release is available here.
    A recording of the Online Launch Ceremony of EU Malaria Fund  can be viewed here: 
    A new partnership between WHO - the United Nations health agency - and EIB - the world’s largest international public bank - announced at WHO headquarters in Geneva on May 1, 2020, will help increase resilience to reduce the health and social impact of future health emergencies. Among other aims, "WHO and EIB will collaborate on a new EU Malaria Fund, to address market failures in developing more effective vaccines, drugs and diagnostics for malaria ", says Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. 

    Dr. Tedros continues: "Although malaria deaths have fallen by more than half since the year 2000, progress has stalled in recent years, and may even reverse if the COVID-19 pandemic disrupts malaria control programmes. Last year, WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group on Malaria Eradication and the Lancet Commission on Malaria Eradication both concluded that we will need new tools if we are to achieve the dream of eradicating malaria. Both reports called for increased investment in research and development to deliver new tools. With WHO’s technical expertise and the European Investment Bank’s financial muscle, we are confident of accelerating the development of those new tools."
    On April 3, 2020, a virtual grant initiation meeting has been held between the Investmentbank of the State of Berlin (IBB), kENUP Foundation, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the EU Malaria Fund and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 
    European Investment (EIB) reports about the EU Malaria Fund and its relevance in the context of pandemics and climate change. The full article by Matt Rees dated March 17, 2020 can be found here.  
    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 make the above-mentioned letter available to the public here, and provide corrected information to those interested here. 
    On February 25, 2020, kENUP Foundation visited the Clinical Research Unit of Nanoro (CRUN), Burkina Faso.  Located in rural area half-way between the capital Ouagadougou and the western border to Mali, pivotal clinical trials for several  portfolio companies are expected to be conducted here.  As to MMV's Severe Malaria Observatory, Malaria is responsible for 61.5% of hospitalizations and 30.5% of deaths in Burkina Faso. The disease is also the leading cause of death  for children under the age of five (49.6%). 
    First row, third from right, going to left: Dr. Innocent Valea, PharmD, PhD, Senior Scientist and leader of quality management systems at CRUN; Prof. Dr. Halidou Tinto, PharmD, PhD, Regional Director of IRSS and Head of CRUN; Holm Keller, Managing Director of the EU Malaria Fund; Dr. Hermann Sorgho, Msc, PhD, Senior Scientist at CRUN 
    On December 20, 2019 - in the presence of Dr. Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank, Dr. Matthias Kollatz, Senator of Finance of the Federal State of Berlin, and Dr. Jörg Wojahn, Representative of the European Commission to the Federal Republic of Germany - the initial financing agreements establishing the “EU Malaria Fund” have been signed in Berlin. Through these agreements, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank are investing more than € 110 million into our innovative funding instrument. 
    From right to left: Torsten Harr, Managing Director of the EU Malaria Fund; Dr. Jörg Wojahn, Representative of the European Commission to the Federal Republic of Germany; Dr. Matthias Kollatz, Senator of Finance of the Federal State of Berlin; Dr. Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank; Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank; Holm Keller, Managing Director of the EU Malaria Fund
    On the occasion of the World Health Summit 2019 on October 29, 2019,  its audience has been informed about the EU Malaria Fund. This announcement was supported by a press information. 
    A press release dated October 9, 2019, referenced the Gates Foundation and the European Investment Bank EIB collaboration on the project. 
    From left to right:  Dr. Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank;  Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Chairman of Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Photo: EIB
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