R&D analysis for malaria

Harnessing innovation and expanding research is a key supporting element of the WHO Global Technical Strategy for Malaria 2016–2030 (GTS). The development of new tools and strategies for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of malaria will be critical to accelerate progress towards the GTS 2030 goals.  

WHO undertook a consultative process to solicit inputs into a prioritization framework for the R&D of malaria health products. The report was developed in conjunction with the Malaria Eradication Scientific Alliance (MESA) and identifies five key challenges that represent threats or barriers to achieving the GTS goals and that could be alleviated with new health products. Potential product solutions were identified from existing research agendas and published literature, and the potential solutions overlaid on the product development pipelines to identify gaps and opportunities. 

Potential product solutions were grouped based on the current status of the malaria R&D pipeline as ‘improve’ – tools which are improved versions of the existing core interventions e.g. new partner drugs in ACTs; ‘innovate’ –novel tools and technologies, e.g. a new active ingredient with insecticidal properties; and ‘investigate’ – novel concepts and technologies at discovery stage e.g. gene drive to prevent mosquitoes carrying malaria parasites. 

A novel scoring system was used to rank potential product solutions based on their applicability to the challenges, the status in the research pipeline and the relative cost of bringing the potential product solution to market. 

See the report:  Analysis of Malaria R&D Priorities