The Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, UK, said it has received $50.7 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to for on treatments for infectious and tropical diseases such as malaria. The grant is part of a $258 million initiative that includes the Liverpool school, the UK-based Malaria Vaccine Initiative, and the Medicines for Malaria Venture in Geneva.
The donation follows last week’s announcement of an £18 million grant to fund a new research centre at the school, awarded by the Northwest Regional Development Agency and Merseyside’s Objective One programme. The construction of the new centre will double the size of the school, according to a press release.
The new centre is expected to be completed in 2007. It will house laboratories and research space to develop new medicines and carry out clinical trials before treatments are transferred to local bio-manufacturing specialists for commercial production and marketing, the statement said. The centre will also train biotech graduates, recruit volunteers for clinical trials and build links with the international pharmaceutical industry.
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