Malaria causes over 1 million deaths per year, 90% of which are preventable. Drug resistance has become one of the most important barriers to effective treatment. The cheapest and most widely-used drugs are ineffective in most countries. Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) was founded in 1999 with the goal of developing new artemisinin combination therapies (ACT) to effectively treat the disease. A public-private-partnership, its mission is to discover, develop and deliver new treatments. With three new products in the final stages of development and a further 30 in the pipeline, MMV now faces challenges with the distribution of medicines whose development it has made possible. The teaching objectives are: (1) to look at complex problems in an unusual context; (2) while taking an operational perspective (production development and supply chain), to understand the entire process (from drug concept to efficient use in the field) and the links with other disciplines, distribution channels and pricing decisions, education and communication, private-public partnerships, financing models etc; and (3) to explore the mission boundaries of an organisation like MMV.
