Gates Foundation and Flagship US$25m collaboration to support women’s health innovation

A five-year partnership worth up to US$25m will explore women’s health, global health and agricultural solutions for underserved populations.

The Gates Foundation and Flagship Pioneering have established a new initiative, Pioneering Global Health & Development (PGH&D), to identify and evaluate potential programmes for low- and middle-income countries.

The organisations have jointly committed up to US$25m over five years to establish and operate the group, which will be based within Flagship.

Individual programmes identified through the collaboration will be considered for additional funding from both organisations to support further development.

The initiative will draw on Flagship’s portfolio of more than 40 platform companies, alongside future innovations from its Flagship Labs research and development operation.

It will combine these scientific and technological capabilities with the Gates Foundation’s expertise in global health, women’s health and agriculture.

The partners aim to identify approaches that could be developed into healthcare and agricultural products for communities with limited access to existing solutions.

PGH&D will be led by Dr Raj Panjabi, senior partner at Flagship Pioneering.

Panjabi previously served as White House senior director for global health security and biodefence and led the US President’s Malaria Initiative.

He has also helped lead Flagship’s Preemptive Health and Medicine Initiative.

Justine Levin-Allerhand, executive partner, chief corporate development officer and chief operating officer of Flagship Labs, said: “The true measure of innovation is not only what it makes scientifically possible, but also how broadly its benefits can reach.

“By combining the Gates Foundation’s deep understanding of global health, women’s health and agricultural innovation needs, with Flagship’s capacity to originate and develop breakthrough platforms and products, we can build access and impact into innovation from the very beginning.

“This collaboration creates a powerful new pathway for turning ambitious science into solutions for people and communities too often left behind.”

The partnership follows previous Gates Foundation investments of up to US$92m across three Flagship companies.

These include ProFound Therapeutics, which has received support for work on pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, serious pregnancy complications associated with high blood pressure. Eclampsia also involves seizures.

The foundation has also supported Tessera Therapeutics for work addressing sickle cell disease and HIV, and Sail Biomedicines for malaria.

The new initiative will provide a broader framework for identifying projects across Flagship’s existing and future companies.

The organisations plan to assess potential programmes at an early stage, with further funding and development considered separately for each project.