Gates charity boosts funding for malaria vaccine research

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Sunday announced $258.3 million in new grants to fund the development of a vaccine and new drugs to combat malaria.

The Malaria Vaccine Initiative will get $107.6 million, with which GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals and African researchers plan to test and license a malaria vaccine candidate in Africa over five-year period, the foundation said. Another $100 million has been allocated to the Medicines for Malaria Venture to fund the development of new malaria drugs. A third grant, of $50 million, will go to the Innovative Vector Control Consortium for promoting enhanced insecticides and mosquito control methods such as insecticide-treated bed nets.

Officials of the foundation said each organization being funded has developed plans to ensure that new vaccines and drugs will be accessible and affordable in poor countries. MMV is developing 20 promising compounds, and six are already in clinical trials. Its portfolio includes drugs that will cure malaria in three once-a-day doses and cost $1 or less.

Health initiatives to fight diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis and malaria have been the top priority of the Gates charity organization. It is working with several private and government partners in Asia and Africa to promote research and other related work.

"Millions of children have died from malaria because they were not protected by an insecticide-treated bed net or did not receive effective treatment," Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said in a statement. "If we expand malaria control programs and invest what's needed in (research and development), we can stop this tragedy."

Kudos to Mr. Gates!

He gets a lot of grief from his detractors, but the truth is he is truly a humanitarian.

[ebrandel]

Exactly

Unlike many of his peers Gates is using much of his vast fortunes for good. Guys like Larry Ellison and the Walmart family. I'm sure they do some charitable work, but Gates dwarfs them all.

His plan is to die with "only" $3 billion in the bank.

[harsha.joshi]

Gates has given lot to the world

Gates is undoubtedly the greatest donar on the technology front and with this new intitative he has proved his worth.

Long live Gates and his nobel cause... and long live Microsoft....

[Norseman]

Fighting malaria bugs is a nice thing

It would also be nice if he'd take care of some of the bugs in his
software.

[flemingho]

I love it!

The beauty is in the fact that he funds non-celebrity/hollywood diseases as well.

God Bless the Gates Family.

[Priya Roy]

The world needs Gates more than the software industry does!

The Gates Foundation has been doing an amazing job at the third-world countries, pretty much treating charity like a business and making it very successful. The world needs such success-and- result orientedness to make it a better place for all of us!