Public and private funders inject €159 million in global health research

According to an African proverb, if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together. However, when it comes to global health and infectious disease threats, collaboration may be the only way to go both fast and far.

The Global Health EDCTP3 offers a compelling example of this. While maintaining a public governance model involving European and African countries, it brings together actors from the public and private sectors, investment, and expertise to advance infectious disease clinical research and strengthen research capacity.

Public and private partners can either co-fund and co-create calls for proposals with Global Health EDCTP3 or provide funding and expertise to specific projects. Both approaches help build the critical mass of resources needed to advance late-stage clinical research. 

'Supporting Europe-Africa research partnerships therefore delivers a dual dividend for the EU: greater protection against cross-border health threats and a stronger, more competitive European research and innovation ecosystem.'

Hester Kuipers, Executive Director at IAVI Europe

Co-funders include private entities and public organisations outside EDCTP Association member countries, known as “contributing partners”, but also public entities based in EDCTP Association member countries. 

By the end of 2026, contributions at call level will have exceeded €49 million, with support from the Gates Foundation, the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), BioNTech and the Leprosy Research Initiative. Beyond funding, these partners help shape research priorities, share scientific expertise, and create opportunities for synergies with their own investment programmes.

Global Health EDCTP3 says contributions targeting specific projects from both types of contributing partners have now reached €159 million, with a further €103 million pledged in 2026 to support project proposals currently under review. Among the roughly 100 organisations co-funding specific projects are Novartis, a multinational pharmaceutical company, and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), a global non-profit, focused on the development of vaccines and antibodies for epidemics.

Connecting product development and research capacity

IAVI’s partnership with Global Health EDCTP3 covers poverty-related and neglected infectious diseases as well as pandemic preparedness. It combines IAVI’s product-development expertise with research partnerships across Africa and Europe to advance vaccines and other biomedical innovations. As a former member of Global Health EDCTP3’s Stakeholders Group, IAVI’s contribution extends beyond individual projects, from providing input on the scientific, strategic, and technological priorities of the programme, to supporting clinical development and planning for access, supply and eventual introduction of new products. 

One example is MTBVAC-AVANTE, a Global Health EDCTP3-supported project accelerating the clinical development of MTBVAC, a tuberculosis vaccine candidate designed by the University of Zaragoza and developed by Spanish biopharmaceutical company Biofabri. Within this project, IAVI leads a major clinical trial in sub-Saharan Africa testing whether MTBVAC can prevent pulmonary TB in adolescents and adults. It is also working with Biofabri to further integrate access principles into the programme through a joint Global Access Plan focused on affordability, availability and accessibility.

'Conducting research in partnership with African institutions ensures epidemiological and biological relevance, and public health impact,' says Kundai Chinyenze, IAVI's regional director, Africa. Such partnerships also strengthen African research leadership and R&D capacity, creating capabilities that can be applied across diseases and support responses to future health challenges.

That wider capacity is particularly important as the boundaries between endemic diseases and emerging outbreaks become increasingly blurred. 'The same clinical research networks, laboratories and trained investigators that support TB or HIV studies also form the backbone of emergency outbreak responses,' adds Kundai Chinyenze.

For Europe, the partnership connects global health research with domestic health priorities. Tuberculosis, including multidrug-resistant TB, remains a challenge for the WHO European Region. 'Supporting Europe-Africa research partnerships therefore delivers a dual dividend for the EU: greater protection against cross-border health threats and a stronger, more competitive European research and innovation ecosystem,' says Hester Kuipers, executive director at IAVI Europe.

Aiming for a single-dose cure for malaria

The same principle applies in other areas. In malaria, the WANECAM 3 project points to how a pharmaceutical company can bring its drug development expertise and research assets into a partnership with African and European researchers to advance a potential new treatment. The project's ambition is to achieve a single-dose cure for uncomplicated falciparum malaria through the development of next-generation antimalarials that could simplify treatment, improve patient adherence and reduce the burden on health systems.

'A single-dose cure could fundamentally change how malaria is treated. But getting there takes more than compounds, it takes trials run in the countries most affected, by researchers who know those settings best.'

Sujata Vaidyanathan, Development Head, Global Health at Novartis

For Novartis, a long-standing co-investor of the EDCTP programmes, this project partnership builds on decades of experience in malaria and gives the company an opportunity to put its research assets and development capabilities to work alongside academic and clinical partners. The company is contributing expertise and resources, including access to two antimalarial compounds, clinical trial sponsorship and regulatory support, to move promising molecules through development to approved treatments.

The consortium builds on earlier collaboration through WANECAM2, which helped advance a new malaria treatment, developed to address rising parasitic resistance, ganaplacide/lumefantrine. It brings together African clinical research leadership, academic expertise, product development experience and pharmaceutical development capabilities, ensuring that studies are conducted in the countries most affected by malaria and generate evidence relevant to local public health needs. Beyond developing new treatments, WANECAM 3 also aims to strengthen research capacity across Africa by investing in clinical trial infrastructure, training and skills development, helping to build research networks that will endure beyond the project.

'A single-dose cure could fundamentally change how malaria is treated. But getting there takes more than compounds, it takes trials run in the countries most affected, by researchers who know those settings best,' says Sujata Vaidyanathan, development head, Global Health at Novartis. 'Together with WANECAM, Novartis has made great strides in addressing the needs of malaria patients, and we are delighted to continue our partnership as we work toward a world free from malaria.'

Upcoming opportunities

New co-funding opportunities will be made available in the Global Health EDCTP3 Work Programme 2027, which will be published in December 2026. The Global Health EDCTP3 Programme Office is inviting potential co-funding partners to get touch and join the Networking Platform that will be launched in January 2027.

Looking further ahead, the 13th edition of the EDCTP Forum, taking place on 5-9 April 2027 in Madrid, will bring together leading voices advancing the fight against infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa. The organisers are expecting 1,500 participants at this event.

Discover the organisations co-investing with Global Health EDCTP3 and learn more about their contributions in Our partners.

Published in Science|Business