Two MIPS projects
ranked among top 30
global health innovations
Two research projects being conducted
by MIPS have been included in the
recently published Innovation Countdown
2030 report, Reimagining Global Health:
30 high-impact innovations to save lives.
Led by the international non-profit organisation
PATH, the Innovation Countdown 2030 initiative
seeks to promote innovation in global health by
‘identifying and showcasing technologies and
interventions with great promise to accelerate
progress toward solving the world’s most urgent
health issues’.
Driven by the 2030 health targets proposed in
the United Nations Sustainable Development
Goals, the inaugural IC2030 report highlights
30 innovations with the potential to change the
face of global health over the next 15 years.
The two MIPS projects stood out as ‘gamechanging health technologies and ideas’. They
were selected from more than 500 submissions
and evaluated by 60 independent health experts,
based on affordability, accessibility, effectiveness
and other key factors.
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The work of the MIPS Centre for Drug Candidate
Optimisation (CDCO) to develop a single-dose
antimalarial drug was selected as a leading
innovation in the Combating Infectious Diseases
category. This work was part of an international
collaboration with the Medicines for Malaria
Venture (MMV), the University of Nebraska and
the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute.
The WHO estimates malaria caused more than
half a million deaths in 2014. Most of these were
children in Africa, where a child dies every minute
from malaria. Half the world’s population is at risk
from the disease.
The potent synthetic antimalarial drug candidate
known as OZ439 has the potential to rapidly
and completely eliminate the malaria-causing
Plasmodium parasite, while avoiding the growing
problem of drug resistance. CDCO director
Professor Sus