Roche Exec Takes Over At Medicines For Malaria Venture

A top Swiss company executive on pandemic influenza and HIV/AIDS research took the reins of the Geneva-based Medicines for Malaria Venture this week, just weeks after MMV was given international organisation status by the Swiss government.

David Reddy, who holds Swiss and New Zealand citizenship, became chief executive officer of MMV effective January. Reddy played a key role in Roche’s highly lucrative strategy on pandemic (avian and “swine”) flu.

Some 67 percent of MMV’s funding comes from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, followed by more than 12 percent from the United Kingdom government, according to MMV’s website. It also includes the World Health Organization. The website does not show any pharmaceutical industry financial support, and also projects a significant funding shortfall for the coming years starting in 2011.

Roche is the maker of Tamiflu, which saw hundreds of millions of dollars in sales during the recent flu pandemics designated by the WHO (which is undergoing an independent investigation of this designation). Tamiflu was widely recommended for stockpiling by governments against the pandemic as a best available defence against the flu, despite doubts about its effectiveness and safety, for instance, see here.

Roche’s earnings plummeted in 2010 with the declared end of the pandemics, according to Bloomberg News.

The new chairman of the MMV Board will be Ray Chambers, the United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Malaria, according to outgoing interim CEO Dennis Schmatz, who served eight months. Schmatz will return to the MMV scientific advisory committee and the Board.

In December, MMV was granted international organisation status in Switzerland, along with two others: Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi), and Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND).

The international status puts the three groups in elite company of 16 existing non-UN organizations, almost all in Geneva, including the World Trade Organization, the Global Fund, International Committee of the Red Cross, International Organization for Migration, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), and the South Centre.

International status carries cost benefits to the organisation and gives special privileges and immunity to employees, according to the Swiss government. This could mean that Reddy now will enjoy protected legal status.