GHIT FUND FUTUREQuotes From Partners

“Japan has a long history in global health. In 2000, we promoted the inclusion of infectious diseases to the G8 agenda, and during the most recent summit, the first G7 summit after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), global health was highlighted. I am glad that the GHIT was introduced in the Summit outcome document as a well-coordinated Public-Private Partnership for R&D. Our investment in GHIT, as well as other partnerships, is a clear signal that Japan has a sustained commitment to global health.”

Koichi Aiboshi

Director-General for Global Issues,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs

“By leveraging GHIT’s new platform, we have been able to demonstrate at home and abroad that Japanese pharmaceutical companies, research organizations, and universities possess technologies and capabilities which can not only contribute to the nation’s health, but to global health as well. Based on these successful experiences, I am hoping that many companies and research organizations in Japan become motivated to help address the challenges of global health, and this will lead to further advancing Japan’s global health R&D.”

Naoko Yamamoto

Assistant Minister for Global Health,
Minister’s Secretariat,
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

“Japan is a leader in global health, and GHIT is a primary example of Japan’s commitment to transforming the global health landscape with a partnership that brings together the unique resources of governments, pharmaceutical companies, and the philanthropic sector to develop products that can turn the tide against the greatest burdens of disease in low- and middle-income countries.”

Trevor Mundel

President, Global Health,
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

“Japan has an outstanding science base and an exceptional culture of innovation, which, along with its excellent pharmaceutical industry, makes it ideal for the rapid advancement of new ways to diagnose and treat disease. We’re proud to support GHIT and to work with the partners to develop drugs, vaccines and diagnostics as quickly as possible and to put them in the hands of the billions of people around the world who need them most.”

Stephen Caddick

Director, Innovations Division,
Wellcome Trust

“GHIT catalyzed a mindset shift for the Japanese pharmaceutical industry vis-à-vis solving global health issues. More specifically, it created a mechanism for Japanese pharmaceutical companies to take leadership roles in solving global health issues by combining their R&D expertise and capabilities in cooperation with those of governments, international organizations and nonprofits.”

Yoshihiko Hatanaka

Representative Director, President and CEO,
Astellas Pharma Inc.

“In order for the global society to develop further, the realization of global health becomes increasingly important. GHIT Fund is the world's first public-private partnership which involves governments, private companies and foundations. The fund specializes in product development aiming for global health and engages in the critical mission. Chugai will contribute to the benefit for the medical community and human health around the world with its proprietary antibody engineering technologies and its compound library which is useful for drug discovery.”

Osamu Nagayama

Representative Director, Chairman and CEO,
Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

“GHIT helps build bridges between our business and corporate social responsibility. We have significant resources to bring to bear on global health, including technologies, insights and experiences gained through the process of product development. It means a great deal to our company if we can leverage our technologies for global health and help develop and deliver products to patients in need.”

George Nakayama

Representative Director, Chairman and CEO,
Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited

“Our mission as a pharmaceutical company is to create new medicines and to deliver those medicines to all the people who need them. In order to eliminate neglected tropical diseases, malaria, and tuberculosis, which are a source of suffering to the people in developing countries, it is essential to both accelerate the development of new medicines and to improve access through partnerships, and we applaud the GHIT Fund’s new endeavors on this front. Eisai is proactively engaged in contributing to global health, which we consider to be a long-term investment in creating a healthy and prosperous middle-income class.”

Haruo Naito

Representative Corporate Officer and CEO,
Eisai Co., Ltd.

“Japanese pharmaceutical companies have always played a major role as innovators and producers of lifesaving medicines, vaccines and diagnostics. We can play a stronger role in seriously expanding the supply and accessibility of these medicines and improve overall health in poor countries.”

Isao Teshirogi

President and CEO,
Shionogi & Co., Ltd.

“GHIT is an innovative model for creating medicines and vaccines against diseases for which there is a lack of R&D funding, and I think it has been very successful. Investing in it and contributing to its work makes sense for Takeda not only because of our global health interests, but also because of the strong capabilities in Japan that can help make GHIT successful.”

Christophe Weber

Representative Director, President and CEO,
Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited

“UNDP is proud to partner with Japan and GHIT, including through its Access and Delivery Partnership, which helps low- and middle-income countries address critical bottlenecks within their health systems so that GHIT-funded innovations can reach more people, faster.”

Magdy Martínez-Solimán

Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator and Director, Bureau for Policy and Programme Support,
United Nations Development Programme

“Partnering with the GHIT Fund has great significance for the delivery of solutions in developing countries where many unsolved infectious diseases exist.
By utilizing its accumulated technologies, Fujifilm will create innovation in fields such as in-vitro diagnosis and therapeutic medications, and contribute to enhancing the quality of healthcare in developing countries.”

Shigetaka Komori

Chairman and CEO,
FUJIFILM Corporation

“Our multi-decade commitment to develop new treatments for tuberculosis resulted in the creation of delamanid, one of the first new anti-multidrug resistant pulmonary tuberculosis agents in almost half a century. Our partnership with the GHIT Fund enables us to further contribute to new drug development for the health of people across the world.”

Tatsuo Higuchi

President and Representative Director,
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

“We look forward to cooperating with the GHIT Fund to strengthen R&D capability for diagnostics against infectious diseases prevalent in developing countries. Through collaboration with the GHIT Fund, we will accelerate the creation of diagnostic technologies with advanced medical value for people suffering from infectious diseases.”

Hisashi Ietsugu

Chairman and CEO,
Sysmex Corporation

“As a science-led global healthcare company, we are committed to taking on some of the world’s biggest healthcare challenges. GHIT Fund is contributing to accelerating the development of innovative medicines and vaccines to save the patients who are suffering from neglected diseases in developing countries. We are proud of being a member of GHIT Fund and of supporting the same mission to overcome global healthcare challenges by harnessing the partnership.”

Kihito Takahashi

Vice President and Senior Managing Director,
Development and Medical Affairs Division,
GlaxoSmithKline K.K.

“We, at Johnson & Johnson, know that good health drives human progress. However there remain critical public health challenges such as HIV and tuberculosis, which limit people’s potential and could be addressed through innovation and collaboration. We are therefore proud to continue supporting GHIT’s work to help develop innovative health solutions for people facing significant public health challenges.”

Paul Stoffels

Chief Scientific Officer,
Johnson & Johnson

“We share GHIT’s sense of urgency about the need to deliver new tools to those suffering from diseases with no adequate treatments. Partnering with GHIT, which focuses on global partnerships, will advance the “CSV* management” based on Our Unique Business Structure.”
* CSV stands for “Creating Shared Value” and refers to realizing improved corporate value through both the creation of social value and the creation of economic value by addressing social issues

Nobuo Hanai

President and CEO,
Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd.

“We at Merck are strongly committed to the fight against schistosomiasis in Africa and just celebrated 10 years of our Praziquantel Donation Program. Our leadership on the Pediatric Praziquantel Consortium, which is partially partnered by GHIT, makes me confident that this engagement with GHIT is bringing us ever closer to a potential treatment solution for the most vulnerable patients – very young children.”

Belén Garijo

Member of the Executive Board & CEO Healthcare,
Merck KGaA

“We are honored to make our chemical compound library available to global health R&D through GHIT. Our ongoing partnership between PDPs and GHIT will move the dial on battling drug-resistance and creating new treatments for the infectious diseases that burden the developing world.”

Masayuki Mitsuka

President & Representative Director,
Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation

“We are dedicated to creating innovative and effective pharmaceutical products for people not only in Japan but also around the world. Through our participation in GHIT Fund, we are seeking to explore how we can utilize our innovative drug discovery technologies for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), malaria, and other disease fields in which there are significant unmet medical needs, thereby aiming to enhance Access to Health.”

Masayo Tada

Representative Director, President and CEO,
Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd.

GHIT Replenishment Press Release