Research Roundup: First-of-its-kind mpox vaccine trial, New treatment-resistant malaria drug, Genetically modified mosquitos

Interested in more global health innovation news? Every week GHTC scours media reports worldwide to deliver essential global health R&D news and content to your inbox. Sign up now to receive our weekly R&D News Roundup email. Recently published research found that a new, noninvasive test for malaria could provide a more reliable, safer, quicker, and more sensitive diagnostic option in low- and middle-income countries. The Cytophone, a tabletop printer-sized device, uses targeted lasers and ultrasound to detect malaria-infected cells in the bloodstream via a small, noninvasive probe placed on the back of a person’s hand. Malaria-infected red blood cells accumulate a by-product with unique properties that can be distinguished from normal red blood cells when they pass through a laser. The test, which provides results within minutes, was found to be as good or better at detecting symptomatic Plasmodium falciparum malaria infections than the current gold standard point-of-care methods for malaria testing, which require blood samples and special laboratory equipment. The next phase of testing the device will also investigate whether the device can detect and distinguish between other species.Last Tuesday, Bavarian Nordic announced the start of a clinical study of the MVA-BN® mpox/smallpox vaccine in children between 2 and 11 years old, who are highly vulnerable to infection during the ongoing mpox emergency. The study, which currently has sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo and plans to include sites in Uganda as well, is investigating the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine in children compared to adults. Last month, the World Health Organization prequalified the vaccine for adolescents between 12 and 17 years old, following the European Medicines Agency’s approval for this age group. Results from the new trial could support an extension of the current approval.Researchers have identified a novel class of antimicrobial agents known as encrypted peptides that play a key role in the immune system’s response to bacterial infections, opening up new possibilities for combating drug-resistant infections as antimicrobial resistance continues to grow as a global health threat. The immune system is traditionally thought to rely primarily on proteins explicitly linked to immune functions, but this new research reveals that other structural proteins contribute to antimicrobial defenses. Leveraging the immune system’s natural defenses through these non-immune proteins could allow researchers to develop effective antibiotic therapies less prone to resistance.

Interested in more global health innovation news? Every week GHTC scours media reports worldwide to deliver essential global health R&D news and content to your inbox. Sign up now to receive our weekly R&D News Roundup email. Scientists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and research partners have developed an innovative antibody platform to tackle viruses like SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) that can rapidly evolve and render vaccines and treatments ineffective. The platform uses engineered nanobodies to simultaneously target multiple stable regions of the virus that are less likely to mutate, making it harder for resistance to develop. While most therapeutic antibodies target only a single viral site and can lose effectiveness within a year as viruses evolve, this platform has the potential to offer a more durable, resilient defense against these tricky viruses. It could also be potentially adapted to target other pathogens. In lab tests and experiments in mice, the platform was able to effectively target a range of variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and even the closely related SARS-CoV virus. A new research project led by researchers at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health and Columbia University aims to develop a lateral flow test for diagnosing malaria at the point of care that would also enable health care workers to determine the severity of the disease and decide whether a course of treatment is necessary. While some patients with uncomplicated malaria can be treated at home, malaria can also rapidly progress and require more complicated treatment in a health care setting. Lateral flow tests for malaria diagnosis exist, but parasite counting using microscopy is needed to determine severity and that cannot be done at the point of care. The researchers, who hope to have a validated prototype by the fall of 2026, are looking to develop a portable, paper-based assay that uses a smartphone and can deliver results within minutes.   Last Monday, Roche announced that its mpox assay, Cobas MPXV, has been listed under the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Emergency Use Listing procedure, a designation that aims to accelerate the availability of and access to the test during the current global mpox emergency. The automated real-time PCR-based test detects DNA from the virus that causes mpox using a dual-target approach and previously received Emergency Use Authorization from the US Food and Drug Administration in 2022. Earlier this month, Abbot’s mpox test was also listed on the Emergency Use Listing procedure following a call by WHO for manufacturers to submit expressions of interest back in August.