Particles for Humanity has raised $4 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, King Philanthropies, and the Mulago Foundation to address vitamin A deficiency in low-resource settings. The funding will be used to transfer Particles for Humanity’s Vitamin A Palmitate (PFH-VAP) technology from lab to pilot scale and to begin studies on taste, smell, and nutrient absorption in the body.
Particles for Humanity is developing PFH-VAP to fortify foods, starting with bouillon, which is consumed daily by 80% of people living in sub-Saharan Africa, where vitamin A deficiency is prevalent. 190 million school–age children and 19 million pregnant women suffer from vitamin A deficiency, which causes night blindness, stunting, and death. Fortifying widely consumed foods is a proven strategy for reducing malnutrition at scale. PFH-VAP is an encapsulated formulation of vitamin A with increased stability in bouillon during storage and cooking. Commercially available forms of vitamin A can be very unstable in bouillon, wheat, and rice.
Earlier funding for the development of PFH-VAP was provided by the Gates Foundation through two grants. This year, King Philanthropies and the Mulago Foundation join the Gates Foundation in funding studies and development work to ready PFH-VAP for market and commercial partnership. King Philanthropies and the Mulago Foundation continue their legacy of funding organizations that address prominent global health issues, such as malnutrition, with cost–effective solutions.
Kim Starkey, CEO of King Philanthropies, recently announced a $100MM commitment to fighting malnutrition and highlights the importance of funding nutrition initiatives, “Malnutrition is the leading cause of death in children under 5 years old. Despite cost-effective, proven solutions such as large scale food fortification, there is a huge disconnect between the size of the malnutrition problem and the funding that is currently directed to address it. We are proud to fund Particles for Humanity’s important work on reducing vitamin A deficiency.”
Kevin Starr, CEO at Mulago Foundation, discusses their recent investment, “Without the right distribution channel, no product can reach the people who need it most. Particles for Humanity has created fortified boullion that can leverage an existing channel that reaches hundreds of millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa. This is the kind of investment we dream of.”
Particles for Humanity transforms early-stage medical technology into products for people living in low-resource settings. It is developing a portfolio of products for improving vaccines and reducing malnutrition, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Its rigorous product development process is based on end-user input and is focused on financially sustainable product opportunities. For more information, visit the company’s website www.particlesfh.com.
