The Japanese government will invest an additional $130 million in the The Global Heath Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund, which supports R&D on infectious diseases including malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and neglected tropical diseases.

The fund is a public-private partnership among seven Japanese pharmaceutical companies, the Japanese government, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the United Nations Development Program. The fund said it has invested more than $60 million in 60 development partnerships, and has started seven clinical trials in high-burden countries.

Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs each pledged Y700 million ($7.2 million) to help launch the fund in 2013.

Adapted from BioCentury.