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On April 8, Japan launched its first public-private partnership aimed at reducing the burden of infectious diseases in the developing world. The $100-million Tokyo-based Global Health Innovative Technology Fund will support collaborative research projects that promise drugs, vaccines and diagnostics for tackling HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and neglected tropical diseases such as lymphatic filariasis. The fund's annual budget of $20–30 million has a five-year commitment from all investors. In the first year, the Japanese government will invest $11 million; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, around $5 million; and Japanese pharma companies, $1 million each. Eisai, headquartered in Tokyo, established the global health fund and five other Japanese pharma companies signed up, including Astellas, Daiichi Sankyo, and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) Japan, all based in Tokyo, and Shionogi and Takeda, based in Osaka. The companies were “the catalytic force” in driving the fund, says B.T. Slingsby, the fund's executive director, and formerly head of global strategy for developing markets at Eisai, the Tokyo-based pharma. “This is not for profit; we invest public goods. However, there are myriad benefits for our partner companies including alignment and synergies with growth strategies in the developing world.” The money will support research collaborations between pharma companies with a research base in Japan, Japanese and foreign academic researchers and biotech firms, and international nonprofit organizations. Some Japanese companies already pursue such diseases. Eisai, for example, has been developing drugs for Chagas disease and leishmaniasis. But this will be the first nationwide effort. “Over the past ten years or more, such funds have been very active in the United States and Europe, but in Japan there has been nothing,” says Hiroyuki Hori, deputy director of the health ministry's international affairs division in Tokyo. “We want to correct that.” Slingsby says they expect to fund two or three interventions that can finish development within five years. The deadline for applications is June 15, and winners will be selected in August.