Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps his Department is taking to support the life sciences sector to develop new drugs to tackle malaria.

UK Research and Innovation’s Medical Research Council (MRC) supports the development of anti-malaria drugs through its Research Boards, Translation portfolio, and participation in the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership.

The MRC contribution for active projects totals £10.93m, including £3.84m for academic-led translational projects. For instance, the University of Liverpool, in collaboration with the Medicines for Malaria Venture, has been awarded £1.12m to lead on a multinational, interdisciplinary programme to develop a drug capable of curing malaria in a single or three daily doses treatment regime.