About MMV

Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV)
Medicines for Malaria Venture, a not-for-profit public-private partnership, was established as a foundation in Switzerland in 1999. It is dedicated to reducing the burden of malaria in disease-endemic countries by discovering, developing and facilitating delivery of new, effective and affordable antimalarial drugs.

Our vision is a world in which these innovative medicines will cure and protect the vulnerable and under-served populations at risk of malaria, and help to ultimately eradicate this terrible disease.

Our mission
MMV’s mission is to bring public, private and philanthropic sector partners together to fund and manage the discovery, development and delivery of new medicines for the treatment and prevention of malaria in disease-endemic countries.

  Download the full MMV Business Plan 2008-2012 (PDF)
  Download MMV at a Glance (High Resolution PDF) (4MB) (Low Resolution PDF) (1MB)

Why is MMV needed?
  Malaria kills up to one million people annually.

  The majority of malaria’s victims are children under five and pregnant women.

  Each year up to 250 million clinical cases of malaria are reported in official statistics; only drugs can be used to cure these potentially fatal infections. While the true number is not known recent estimates suggest that actual numbers may be larger.

  Over 90% of malaria cases are found in Africa, but this could change if climactic conditions change. Warming and flooding are favorable to the spread of the main tropical mosquito species that principally transmits malaria.

The way forward
  Today the potential of drug research within MMV’s pipeline is exceptionally promising

  There is no technical reason why we should not aspire to much more than what we have as standard drugs today from single dose cures to very safe intermittent treatments (surrogate vaccines) for those at heightened risk of malaria.

  It is now critical that as a global community we do not repeat the well documented mistakes of the failed eradication era (the 1950-60s), by thinking that all that is needed is already on hand.

A balance between continuous innovation and evidence-based use of malaria control and treatment measures provides the only rational way forward to achieving MMV’s vision.

Public-private partnership: the formula MMV has chosen to fulfill its mission
Public-private partnerships have become one of the preferred ways to ensure that progress can be made in addressing healthcare issues which neither the public nor the private sector can solve on their own.

MMV is among the first of these public-private partnerships established to tackle a major global disease. The initiative arose from discussions between the World Health Organization (WHO) and the representative body of the pharmaceutical industry, the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Associations (IFPMA). Early partners in these exploratory discussions were the Global Forum for Health Research, the Rockefeller Foundation, the World Bank, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry and the Wellcome Trust.

The combination of the pharmaceutical industry, with its knowledge and expertise in drug discovery and development, and the public sector, with its depth of expertise in basic biology, clinical medicine, field experience and above all its public remit, constitutes the rationale for MMV.

Established as a Foundation in Switzerland, MMV was officially launched on 3 November 1999.

MMV is located in Geneva and can be reached at:

Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV)
International Center Cointrin (ICC) Building
20, rte de Pré-Bois
Block G, 3rd Floor
1215 Geneva 15
Switzerland

Tel: +41 22 799 4060
Fax: +41 22 799 4061
e-mail: info [at] mmv.org

  Directions to our offices

Mailing address:
Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV)
PO Box 1826
1215 Geneva 15
Switzerland