Novartis Announces $250M In R&D Funding For Neglected Tropical Diseases, Malaria

Novartis AG NVS is pledging $250 million into R&D for new treatments of neglected tropical diseases (NTD) and malaria, with an aim to eliminate these diseases.
"Over the past decade, great progress has been made against NTDs, but there is still a lot more work to be done," CEO Vas Narasimhan said.
Novartis is allocating $100 million toward four NTDs.
In collaboration with Wellcome, the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD) is working to discover novel, curative anti-parasitic therapies for Chagas disease.
Further, the company is collaborating with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative, with earlier support from Wellcome, to develop LXE408 for visceral leishmaniasis, and is currently entering Phase 2 development.
Novartis progressed dengue fever targeting compound currently in Phase 1 trial.
NITD is also working on EDI048, a cryptosporidium infection candidate, currently in Phase 1 development.
As for the $150 million malaria initiative, Novartis wants to focus on three drug candidates that promise to combat the emerging resistance to artemisinin while supporting the development of optimized formulations for neonates and infants under 5 kg.
Novartis has previously committed $100 million toward malaria eradication in 2018.
Price Action: NVS shares are down 0.10% at $81.59 during the market session on the last check Thursday.