MMV’s R&D activities are not conducted on our own premises. Instead we use our partners’ facilities, including premises, hi-tech laboratories and technical expertise. MMV is able to outsource all technical activities to these partners or use contract research organizations (CROs).

The ‘virtual’ R&D portfolio managed by MMV is efficient, cost effective and in a number aspects more flexible than the conventional R&D found in pharmaceutical companies. MMV injects the needed funding into its projects and jointly manages the portfolio, drawing the best from its public and private sector partners. MMV’s mission is entirely focused on making a public health impact in disease-endemic countries.

MMV recognizes that the pharmaceutical industry is the keeper of all knowledge and expertise regarding drug development. We cannot function without our pharmaceutical partners. MMV’s main mission is to have a public health impact via the development and use of new antimalarial drugs, in other words to save lives and reduce malaria mortality.

Partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies who are willing to contribute resources and know-how to further this goal, without the prospect of a normal commercial return, are fundamental to MMV’s operations. Industry leaders were instrumental in helping establish MMV, and they continue to support its development.

Several organizations are involved in the fight to defeat malaria. In part this is because it is a complex disease for which no one ‘magic bullet’ solution exists – it needs an integrated effort that includes preventive and treatment tools, such as long-lasting insecticide-treated bed-nets, indoor residual spraying, innovative detection methods, novel insecticides and in the future, vaccines.

Efforts to help fight malaria range from advocacy, education, R&D and implementation of existing disease control measures using global funding mechanisms. There is no significant overlap or duplication of effort, rather all those involved strive to collaborate and achieve synergy, sometimes formally by creating working groups, but usually informally.

In the R&D arena, MMV is the only organization focused entirely on the development of antimalarial medicines.

MMV has received funding and support from government agencies, private foundations, international organizations, corporations, corporate foundations, and private individuals. These funds are used to finance the MMV portfolio of research and development projects to provide new, effective and affordable medicines for the treatment and prevention of malaria. They also support specific, targeted access and product management interventions to facilitate access to MMV products by vulnerable populations in malaria-endemic countries.

Visit our donors page to learn more.

MMV's funding and expenditure figures are updated on an annual basis. These graphs can be viewed on the funding and expenditure page.

MMV also receives ‘In-kind’ contributions such as the use of facilities, pharmaceutical technologies (e.g. high-throughput screening), staff resources, laboratories and unique resources such as general or tailored compound libraries. MMV estimates its in-kind contributions by large pharmaceutical companies to be at a level at least equivalent to the funds committed to projects by MMV.

MMV was founded following discussions between several organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO). Today, MMV is an independent Swiss organization with a fully independent governance structure. However, MMV's business plan does aim to support the WHO global malaria strategy and MMV has had formalized cooperation programmes with WHO since 2018.