The three non-profit research and development (R&D) organizations have signed a strategic cooperation agreement to explore opportunities to pool resources and maximize their impact amid global aid cuts and calls to reform the global health architecture.
Three non-profit R&D organizations—the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), the GARDP Foundation (known as GARDP), and Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV)—have signed a cooperation agreement to explore how they can further pool their expertise and resources to strengthen the efficiency and coordination of their activities, with the ultimate goal of accelerating the development of life-saving treatments for patients who need them most.
The areas to be explored will focus particularly on R&D. The three organizations—known as product development partnerships, or PDPs—will also strengthen joint policy advocacy and communications activities to raise awareness of their alternative, non-profit drug development model.
Through this initiative, the three organizations aim to maximize the impact of limited global health R&D resources and show global leadership as calls to reform the global health architecture multiply. Equitable medical innovation, driven by patient needs, must be at the core of the future global health architecture, and economic incentives alone will not suffice to deliver the innovations or the equitable access patients urgently need.
By speaking with one unified voice, DNDi, GARDP, and MMV reaffirm their commitment to work together and with partners across all regions to accelerate the delivery of effective, affordable, and life-saving medicines through this agreement. This commitment is critical in the current context of shrinking global health budgets, aid cuts, and threats to multilateralism.
The need for medical innovation is greater than ever. In 2024, an estimated 282 million people contracted malaria, and 610,000 died from it. Nearly 5 million deaths a year are now associated with drug-resistant bacterial infections. More than one billion people are affected by neglected diseases each year.
Recent health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Central Africa, are also stark reminders that many much-needed life-saving innovations, including therapeutics, do not exist—and when they do, they too often fail to reach the most vulnerable populations.
Product development partnerships have demonstrated their ability to deliver life-saving health tools: since 2010, they have developed and delivered 79 new diagnostics, drugs and vaccines that have reached 2.4 billion people. PDPs have shown they can deliver comparable innovation outcomes more cost-effectively than traditional development models, particularly in areas of market failure.
The agreement signed by DNDi, GARDP, and MMV sets a framework to build on existing collaborations. Since 2016, DNDi and GARDP have shared several operational and back-office support functions. The two organizations also established a joint Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls (CMC) platform to share their know-how in the design, development and scale-up of manufacturing processes of active pharmaceutical ingredients and drug products.
This year, DNDi and MMV are planning to launch a joint regulatory science platform to shorten registration timelines, strengthen their regulatory strategies, and accelerate equitable access to medicines through collaboration and shared knowledge.
‘The global health environment is changing fast, but patients’ unmet needs remain. We invite other non-profit research organizations committed to equitable access and leaving no patient behind to join our collective efforts with our partners GARDP and MMV. In a rapidly shifting environment, closer, smarter, more agile collaboration is essential to deliver life-saving health tools for millions in urgent need’ said Dr Luis Pizarro, Executive Director of DNDi.
‘At a time of growing antimicrobial resistance and shrinking global health resources, collaboration is no longer optional — it is essential,’ said Dr Peter Beyer, Deputy Executive Director of GARDP. ‘This partnership brings together complementary expertise to accelerate the development of urgently needed treatments and to ensure they reach the patients who need them most. By working more closely with DNDi and MMV, we can strengthen our collective impact and help build a more coordinated and effective global R&D ecosystem.’
‘Partnership and collaboration are essential to maximizing global health impact. By working more closely with DNDi and GARDP, we can accelerate patient-centred innovation and ensure that life-saving treatments reach those who need them most,’ said Dr Martin Fitchet, CEO of MMV.
About DNDi
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) is a not-for-profit medical research organization that discovers, develops, and delivers safe, effective, and affordable treatments for neglected people. DNDi is developing medicines for sleeping sickness, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, parasitic worm diseases, mycetoma, dengue, paediatric HIV, advanced HIV disease, cryptococcal meningitis, and hepatitis C. Its research priorities include children’s health, gender equity and gender-responsive R&D, and diseases impacted by climate change. Since its creation in 2003, DNDi has joined with public and private partners across the globe to deliver 14 new treatments, saving millions of lives. dndi.org
About GARDP
GARDP (the Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership) is a not-for-profit global health organization driven to protect people from the rise and spread of drug-resistant infections, one of the biggest threats to us all. By forging the public and private partnerships that matter, GARDP develops and makes accessible antibiotic treatments for people who need them. Vital support for our work comes from the governments of Germany, Japan, Monaco, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the Canton of Geneva, the European Commission, as well as the Gates Foundation, Global Health EDCTP3, GSK, the RIGHT Foundation, the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) and Wellcome. GARDP is registered under the legal name GARDP Foundation in Switzerland. www.gardp.org
About MMV
No one should die from malaria. Yet in 2024, more than a quarter of a billion people fell sick and over 600,000 lives were lost – most of them young children. We believe this is unacceptable.
Founded in 1999, MMV is a not-for-profit product development partnership (PDP). We work “end-to-end” to discover, develop and deliver accessible and affordable medicines to treat, prevent and eliminate malaria. Starting where the need is greatest – with children and pregnant women – we collaborate equitably with partners across sectors and geographies, ensuring innovation reflects local realities and reaches those most at risk.
It’s working. As of 2026, we have brought forward 19 medicines that have treated or protected more than 1.48 billion people worldwide. We cannot stop now.
MMV is part of an ecosystem of partners determined to eliminate malaria. As a PDP, we bring the public and private sectors together to promote the equitable development of breakthrough solutions to help end malaria and advance health for all.
For more information, visit www.mmv.org.
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Media contact
DNDI
Frédéric Ojardias
+41 79 431 62 16
fojardias@dndi.org
GARDP
Dominique De Santis
+41 79 866 6032
ddesantis@gardp.org
MMV
Doreen Akiyo Yomoah
+41 79 238 60 74
yomoahd@mmv.org
Photo credit: Lameck Ododo-DNDi
