Participation in the GHIT Fund and Utilization of Partnerships

The Daiichi Sankyo Group is promoting partnership-based drug discovery to make the best use of its accumulated scientific findings and global network. Partnerships bring synergies to initiatives that cannot be completed by the Group alone. This initiative contributes to Goal 17: “Partnerships for the Goals” of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations member states.
The Daiichi Sankyo Group has funded the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (hereinafter referred to as the “GHIT Fund”) since its establishment in April 2013. To promote the development of drugs for combating infectious diseases in developing countries, the GHIT Fund was established as a public-private partnership originating in Japan and was supported by the government of Japan, five Japanese pharmaceutical companies, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. We have provided the funding for the third phase starting in April 2023, ongoingly from the first and second phases. The GHIT Fund has contributed to breakthroughs in many innovative product developments through its investments.
The Group is utilizing the partnership through the GHIT Fund structure to undertake a number of research projects, by integrating our accumulated drug discovery capabilities, our partners' expertise in diseases, and the GHIT Fund’s investment capabilities and its global network.
Daiichi Sankyo will continue with activities that contribute to fulfilling its purpose “to contribute to the enrichment of quality of life around the world,” through initiatives to create innovative pharmaceuticals and improve medical access in developing countries.

The Global Health Innovative Technology Fund

Participation in the AMR Action Fund

The emergence and spread of drug-resistant bacteria is a significant global problem to public health. Presumably, the number of deaths due to infectious diseases caused by bacterial antimicrobial resistance (AMR*) in 2050 across the globe could reach approximately 10 million annually if appropriate countermeasures are not implemented. Against this backdrop,the AMR Action Fund was established in July 2020 in order to support the clinical development of new antibiotics and achieve a sustainable market for antibiotics. The fund aims to commercialize two to four new antibiotics by 2030 by providing a total of US$1.0 billion in investments and technical assistance to several small biotechnology companies. As of the end of December 2023, the fund has announced investments in a total of seven companies. By contributing a total of US$20 million to this fund, Daiichi Sankyo is working to promote the development of innovative antibiotics and thereby contribute to the early resolution of the global AMR problem.

^*Abbreviation of Antimicrobial Resistance

AMR Action Fund

Promotion of the Utilization of Research Results in the Manufacturing Technology Association of Biologics

The Daiichi Sankyo Group of companies are promoting the utilization of a new CHO cell strain* (CHO-MK) for the manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals under in-house development. CHO-MK was developed through our participation in the Manufacturing Technology Association of Biologics (MAB) and has productivity (i.e., the ability to produce antibodies, growth rate, and stability in culture) at a world-leading level. Through cooperation with the MAB’s project, “Development of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies for Continuous Manufacturing”, we are also exploring new opportunities for further technological innovation and open innovation.

^*Chinese hamster ovary-derived cell strain used widely for the manufacturing of antibody drugs.

OiDE Project

With the aim to incubate innovative seeds mainly created by Japan’s academia, we have established and manage an investment fund, the Open innovation for the Development of Emerging technologies (OiDE) Fund, jointly with Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Co., Ltd., the Organization for Small & Medium Enterprises and Regional Innovation Japan, and others. As our No. 5 investment project, we have commenced an open innovation research aimed at developing a gene therapy drug for visual restoration. In cooperation with the Prof. Kandori’s Laboratory at the Graduate School of Engineering of Nagoya Institute of Technology, the Daiichi Sankyo Group has identified the potential application of the highly active, novel photo-responsive protein, GtCCR4, to the restoration of vision, in the collaborative drug discovery program TaNeDS. In this research program funded by the OiDE Fund, we will examine the further improvement of the performance of GtCCR4 and its potential application to gene therapy. The Daiichi Sankyo Group will progress with the research toward the practical application of GtCCR4 as an innovative gene therapy for patients who have lost their vision due to retinitis pigmentosa, for which there is a high unmet medical need. For details on the OiDE project, refer to the following website:

OiDE Project (To Japanese page)