The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced it will donate $50 million to the Beijing-based Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (GHDDI) over a period of five years.
The foundation said the fund would support the development of drugs for infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis and malaria that disproportionately affect people living in low- and middle-income countries.
A non-profit research organisation in China, the GHDDI was jointly founded by the foundation, Tsinghua University, and the Beijing municipal government in 2016.
The municipal government will provide financial support of the same scale, and Tsinghua University has pledged continued support for research platforms, achievement transformations, and talent training.
Ding Sheng, head of the GHDDI and a professor at Tsinghua University, said the new round of financial and professional support is of great significance as the centre aims to tackle global health challenges by accelerating new drug development.
Xinhua
