First Health United

First Health United is a non-profit organization based in The Netherlands. We are a fully independent spin off of the company First Health Pharmaceuticals, who transferred the largest part of its antivirus development pipeline to our non-profit foundation.

Dengue Project

3,9 billion people worldwide are at risk of Dengue virus infection, for which there are no therapeutic solutions available. Dengue Fever progresses to Severe Dengue in about 500.000 patients worldwide and causes a substantial burden especially on developing countries.

Our Research

Dengue Virus is only one of the many tropical RNA viruses that respond well to our DDX3 RNA Helicase inhibitors. We are also making great progress with Japanese Encephalitis Virus, Zika Virus, West Nile Virus and even Ebola Virus, while investigating more targets.

Viral Targets

We concentrate our development on new pharmaceuticals that are active against dangerous tropical viral infections for which currently no treatment options are available.

Severe Dengue

Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever can result in Dengue Shock Syndrome with Ebola-like symptoms, proving fatal to 22.000 patients annually.

RNA Helicase technology

The human RNA Helicase DDX3 is a so-called host factor enzyme, used by several viruses during their replication within our cell apparatus.

Cancer Targets

First Health Pharmaceuticals also has a large oncology pipeline and in the future, the non-profit development of certain niche market cancer targets may also be transferred to First Health United.

Tropical viruses

Disease spreading Tiger mosquitoes are expanding their territory worldwide, invading also regions that were previously spared from tropical virus epidemics.

Collaborations

We collaborate with many academic partners around the globe and have a special relationship with the Academic Hospital and the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry of Siena University in Italy.

Our Mission

We develop revolutionary new antiviral agents based on an existing portfolio of highly active pharmaceutical compounds that was granted to our organization by our sponsor First Health Pharmaceuticals.

Pharmaceutical Research
Our mission may sound ambitious, but actually the start of the clinical development (testing in humans) of new pharmaceuticals for most of our target indications is right around the corner. With the antiviral activity and lack of toxicity of our compounds already proven against many viruses, we now largely concentrate our research on optimal delivery of our compounds in the body as well as making our compounds as effective as possible against the viral diseases at issue.
A Revolutionary Approach
Inhibition of the human DDX3 RNA Helicase is a truly revolutionary approach in antivirus development and First Health Pharmaceuticals is the only company in the world working on this antivirus technology. Already ten years ago a precursor of our current platform was developed by the University of Siena, Italy. The compounds proved active against HIV virus and eventually resulted in a completely new technology that focuses on the selective inhibition of the helicase domain of the DDX3 enzyme.
Tropical Virus targets for First Health United

Today the final agreement was signed through which Amsterdam based biotech company First Health Pharmaceuticals transferred the largest part of its pipeline of highly active antivirus agents to the non-profit organisation First Health United.

First Health United to participate at AIDS2018

First Health Pharmaceuticals and First Health United Foundation are going to participate at AIDS2018, the 22nd International AIDS Conference on HIV and AIDS, which will take place in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, from 23 to 27 July 2018.

Setback in Dengue vaccine program

It was announced that the use of the only approved Dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia, is to be strictly limited due to evidence it can worsen the disease in people who have not previously been exposed to the infection. The bad news is…

Social Responsibility

First Health Pharmaceuticals took its Social Responsibility very serious when it donated the largest part of its antivirus pipeline to First Health United. The decision is testimony to the fact that profit maximisation is clearly not the only goal of the company and that Social Responsibility is a driving force within the First Health group.

We are Different

Most non-profit organisations work at a national level, gravitating towards basic research in their country of origin. First Health United is different: We collaborate with whatever university is a leader in our field of research, regardless if it is in the Netherlands, China, Italy or the USA.

Your contribution will save lives

You can contribute to the development and non-profit distribution of tangible new pharmaceuticals.

You can help saving tens of thousands of lives each year. Your donations will directly support First Health United Foundation’s commitment of development and non-profit distribution of tangible new pharmaceuticals that are effective against crippling infectious viral diseases.
Besides the Dengue Project, First Health United is investigating cures for other viral diseases. It also offers the possibility to sponsor specific scholarships targeting the development of new antivirus agents against a specific disease.