Total Investment of Approx. USD 11.6 Million in TB and NTD R&D projects with Partners including FUJIFILM, Stop TB Partnership, and the Ohio State University

The Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund announced today a total investment of approximately JPY 1.73 billion (USD 11.6 million¹) in four R&D projects for the development of diagnostics and a vaccine for tuberculosis (TB), neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), and malaria.² 

Investment of JPY 390 Million (USD 2.6 million¹) to Advance a Novel Rapid Diagnostic for Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the world’s most devastating infectious diseases, affecting over 10 million people and causing 1.3 million deaths annually³. In resource-limited settings, over 3 million people go undiagnosed each year due to the lack of suitable, accessible diagnostic tools⁴—particularly at the point of first contact with the healthcare system. Severely ill patients and children, who often struggle to produce sputum, are especially at risk of being missed by routine diagnostics. To help address this gap, the GHIT Fund is investing JPY 390 million (USD 2.6 million¹) in a global partnership aimed at assessing and introducing an innovative TB diagnostic. This project is being led by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) hosted organization Stop TB Partnership, in collaboration with FUJIFILM Corporation, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and research institutions in Cameroon, Nigeria, and Germany. The investment builds on a prior GHIT-supported project that received approximately JPY 600 million (USD 4.0 million¹) between 2016 and 2023, and seeks to bring a highly sensitive urine-based rapid test progressing toward implementation.

The project will evaluate the performance and feasibility of FUJIFILM SILVAMP TB LAM II, a rapid test developed by Fujifilm to detect urinary LAM antigens, along with a urine concentration device (UCD). This innovative diagnostic approach eliminates the need for sputum collection and has the potential to significantly improve diagnostic accuracy for a broad range of people—including those living with or without HIV, severely ill individuals, and children. By enabling earlier and more accessible diagnosis, particularly in underserved settings, this project aims to reduce diagnostic delays and disparities, help limit the spread of TB, and ultimately support global efforts to end the disease.

JPY 681 million (USD 4.5 million¹) Investment in a Phase I Clinical Study of a Leishmaniasis Vaccine

Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease transmitted by sandflies and is recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an NTD. The GHIT Fund will invest JPY 681 million (USD 4.5 million¹) in Phase I clinical trials of this promising vaccine, in a project jointly conducted by the Ohio State University and Nagasaki University. The project will evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the investigational vaccine in healthy adults living in endemic regions of Brazil and Kenya. In addition, on July 25, 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Investigational New Drug Application (IND) to initiate human clinical trials. This milestone represents a significant step forward in the fight against leishmaniasis and will accelerate product development and early access.

In addition, the GHIT Fund will invest a total of approximately JPY 666 million (USD 4.4 million¹) in the following two R&D projects:

(1) Product development project for new rapid diagnostic test for strongyloidiasis by Drugs & Diagnostics for Tropical Diseases (DDTD), Medical & Biological Laboratories Co., Ltd. (MBL), IRCCS Sacro Cuore Don Calabria Hospital, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Fundacion Mundo Sano, and Big Eye Diagnostics, Inc. (BEDx)  

(2) Target research project for malaria diagnostics by Ehime University, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NEKKEN) Nagasaki University, and Universiti Malaysia Sabah

Please refer to Appendix 1 for detailed descriptions on these projects and their development stages. The four projects funded in this round bring together partners from a total of 11 countries. Since its inception, the GHIT Fund has worked with more than 190 research and development partners, including more than 130 overseas institutions. The GHIT Fund serves as a bridge connecting pharmaceutical companies, universities, and research institutes in Japan with their counterparts around the world.

As of September 30, 2025, the GHIT Fund has invested in 42 projects, including 17 discovery projects, 14 preclinical projects, and 11 clinical trials.⁶ The total amount of investments since 2013 is JPY 41.0 billion (USD 275 million¹) (Appendix 2).

¹ USD1 = JPY148.81, the approximate exchange rate on September 30, 2025.

² These awarded projects were selected and approved as new investments from among proposals to RFP2023-002, RFP2024-001, and RFP2025-001 for the Product Development Platform and the Target Research Platform, which were open for applications from June 2023 to July 2025. 

³ WHO: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tuberculosis  

⁴ Stop TB Partnership https://www.stoptb.org/missing-tb-millions

⁵ WHO: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/leishmaniasis

⁶ This number includes projects in the registration phase.

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The GHIT Fund is a Japan-based international public-private partnership (PPP) fund that was formed between the Government of Japan, multiple pharmaceutical companies, the Gates Foundation, Wellcome, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The GHIT Fund invests in and manages an R&D portfolio of development partnerships aimed at addressing neglected diseases, such as malaria, tuberculosis, and neglected tropical diseases, which afflict the world’s vulnerable and underserved populations. In collaboration with global partners, the GHIT Fund mobilizes Japanese industry, academia, and research institutes to create new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics for malaria, tuberculosis, and neglected tropical diseases.

https://www.ghitfund.org/en