2018 Grand Challenges Annual Meeting Call-to-Action
The OpportunityWe believe the Grand Challenges Annual Meetings (GCAM) present a great opportunity to engage some of the brightest scientific minds, learn about challenges in global health and development, and explore new approaches and collaborations to tackle the toughest problems. In Berlin, the Grand Challenges meeting convened a diverse set of organizations and participants across the 12 content-area tracks listed below. In addition to the scientific track sessions, the meeting included inspiring plenary talks, poster sessions, and plenty of opportunities for connection, discussion, and learning. But we also seek tangible outcomes and hope the meeting inspires members of the Grand Challenges community to drive forward high-risk, high-reward ideas to address the biggest health and development challenges.To keep the meeting’s spirit of accelerating innovation to impact going after the meeting ends, we are providing a grant opportunity to build on your participation in the Grand Challenges meeting.
The Challenge – a Call to Action
While at the Berlin Grand Challenges meeting, did you…- learn about a new problem you think you can solve?
- learn something new that you can apply to the problem you are currently working on?
- meet a new collaborator and develop a plan of action?
- $100,000 USD pilot award
- $200,000 USD collaborative pilot award
- Crop Research
- Developments in Research & Development Against Antimicrobial Resistance
- From Innovation to Impact
- Growth and Resilience
- Health Systems Strengthening and Health Crisis Prevention
- National Surveillance Systems to Support Decision Agriculture Under Climate Change
- Optimizing Drug Discovery and Translation
- Pest and Disease Surveillance for Human, Livestock, and Crop Health
- Strengthening African Research and Development Ecosystems
- Unlocking the Power of Adolescents Through Innovation
- Vaccines and Global Health Technology
- What’s Next for Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) – A Role in Precision Public Health
BioNTech Announces New Collaboration to Develop HIV and Tuberculosis Programs
— Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invests $55 million in an infectious disease collaboration that could reach up to $100 million in total funding —
Mainz, Germany, September 4, 2019 –BioNTech SE, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on patient-specific immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases, announced today that it has signed an agreement with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (the Gates Foundation) to develop HIV and tuberculosis programs, further expanding the Company’s infectious disease portfolio. This partnership includes an initial equity investment of $55 million, which is expected to close within the next week. The funds will be used to develop preclinical vaccine and immunotherapy candidates to prevent HIV and tuberculosis infection as well as to lead to durable antiretroviral therapy-free remission of HIV disease. Total funding under the collaboration could reach $100 million through potential future grant funding from the Gates Foundation that would be used to underwrite the evaluation of these candidates in the clinic and support the initiation of new infectious disease projects.
“We are thrilled about the partnership with the Gates Foundation and the outstanding network of infectious disease specialists that it has built,” said Prof. Ugur Sahin, CEO of BioNTech. “Targeting severe infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV infection is in line with our mission to leverage our immunotherapy capabilities not only for cancer but also beyond, in disease areas of high medical need.”
“Despite remarkable advances in global health since 1990, current approaches to preventing and treating tuberculosis – the world’s leading cause of death from infectious disease – and HIV infection remain inadequate,” said Lynda Stuart, Deputy Director, Vaccines and Human Immunobiology, Discovery and Translational Sciences at the Gates Foundation. “BioNTech’s innovative mRNA-based approach and in-depth understanding of the immune system offer exciting pathways to develop effective new immune-based therapies that could dramatically reduce the global incidence of HIV and tuberculosis. We believe this partnership will add to our portfolio of innovative tools and could make a significant impact.”
Under the terms of the agreement, the collaboration will fund the identification of potential HIV and tuberculosis vaccine and immunotherapy candidates and their pre-clinical development. It will further enable BioNTech to build out its infectious disease infrastructure, including platform development and may allow the Company to initiate three new additional programs within its infectious disease portfolio. All programs will utilize BioNTech’s proprietary platforms and the Company will retain rights for commercialization of the vaccine and immunotherapy candidates in the developed world while providing affordable access to the candidates in developing countries.
About BioNTech
BioNTech was founded in 2008 on the understanding that every cancer patient’s tumor is unique and therefore each patient’s treatment should be individualized. Its cutting-edge pipeline includes individualized mRNA-based product candidates, innovative chimeric antigen receptor T cells, novel checkpoint immunomodulators, targeted cancer antibodies and small molecules. BioNTech’s product development approach has been validated by seven collaborations with, in chronological order, Eli Lilly and Company, Genmab, Sanofi, Bayer Animal Health, Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, Genevant and Pfizer, and its scientific approach through over 150 peer-reviewed scientific publications. BioNTech’s shareholders include the Struengmann Family Office as its majority shareholder, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Invus, Janus Henderson Investors, MIG Fonds, Redmile Group, Salvia, Mirae Asset Financial Group, Platinum Asset Management, Jebsen Capital, Steam Athena Capital, BVCF Management and several European family offices.
For more information, please contact:
BioNTech SE
Michael Boehler, MD, Head of Global External Communications
Tel: +49 (0)6131 9084 1640
Email: [email protected]
For all media inquiries:
Trophic Communications
Gretchen Schweitzer / Stephanie May, PhD
Tel: +49 (0)89 23 88 77 30 or +49 171 185 56 82
Email: [email protected]
Bill Gates has been worried about a pandemic hitting the world for decades. So much so, his foundation spent millions creating fictional scenarios for world leaders to troubleshoot in which mutating viruses infected humans and killed tens of millions before being contained.
At global conferences, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation got cabinet-level leaders to run through the script to show how unprepared they were and how little they’d thought about the issues. Who would model the epidemic's spread? Where would the genetic sequencing happen? Which agency would organize clinical trials?
“We tried to get some awareness of how huge this vulnerability is in various global forums,” Gates said. The last one was run in partnership with the World Economic Forum on Oct. 18, 2019, livestreamed for the world to watch.
(USA Today)