GHIT Fund Request for Proposals: Hit-to-Lead Platform (HTLP) 2023
The Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund) is a non-profit organization focused on promoting the discovery and development of new health technologies, including drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics for infectious diseases prevalent in developing countries.
Qualified drug hits that meet the entry criteria will be considered for HTLP funding. The goal and key requirement of the Hit-to-Lead Platform is to convert drug hits derived from Japanese compound libraries into lead series through a comprehensive assessment of chemical integrity, synthetic accessibility, scalability and novelty, functional behavior, and structure-activity relationships (SAR), as well as bio-physiochemical and absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion (ADME) properties. This lead-generation step is critical as it is the earliest point at which knowledge-driven decisions about compounds can be made. An early, rigorous assessment can focus resources on the most promising lead series and projects. To address the high attrition rate at the early stage of drug discovery, it is preferable that applications include multiple hit series.
Proposals must meet the criteria below in order to be eligible for consideration:
- Cellular potency consistent with potential to deliver lead series (typically Plasmodium spp. IC50 <1µM, T. cruzi intracellular IC50 <10 µM, L. donovani intracellular IC50 <10µM, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis MIC <10µM)
- Compounds originated/derived from Japan
- Novel hit structures confirmed
- Primary results validated on hit compounds (>90% pure)
- Acceptable in vitro concentration-response curves
- Preliminary SAR with existing analogues
- Progressable chemotypes
- >10-fold selectivity for cytotoxicity using a mammalian cell line (e.g. HepG2)
- Adequate selectivity in counter assay(s)
- No blocking intellectual property (IP)
- No major synthesis or formulation issues anticipated
The GHIT Fund requires each HTLP project to have a collaboration with one of the three leading drug development PDPs as a partner: Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), and TB Alliance. A partnership with one of the above PDPs needs to have been solidified at the time of ITA and proposal submission.
Read more here.
Intent to Apply deadline February 10, 2023 (10:00 am Tokyo time). Full proposals deadline March 17, 2023.
