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Breakthroughs Blog

Breakthroughs Blog

Latest from the Breakthroughs Blog

Breakthroughs brings you stories of bright ideas and bold innovations in global health.

PATH/Matthew Dakin
February 24, 2025

Research Roundup: Real-world study of drug-resistant TB regimen, Global flu vaccine capacity analysis, Paper-based device for blood samples

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week.

Written by Hannah Sachs-Wetstone / GHTC
Read time:
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. A prospective cohort study of patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) found that the six-month, all-oral BPaL (bedaquiline, pretomanid, and linezolid)-based regimens recommended by the World Health Organization were safe and highly effective, providing critical data from real-world settings with a high burden of drug-resistant TB to support global guidelines recommending their use. The results were comparable to previous Phase 3 clinical trials testing the regimens. Further research is needed to test the regimens among other key populations, including children and people with severe forms of extrapulmonary TB.A recently published analysis found that the 2023 global supply of seasonal influenza vaccines has been stable since 2019, suggesting that production capacity was sustained through the COVID-19 pandemic. Monitoring seasonal vaccine production capacity is important for estimating the capacity to manufacture vaccines in the case of an outbreak of pandemic influenza because pandemic influenza vaccines are produced primarily by the same or similar manufacturers, technology, and facilities as seasonal flu vaccines. The analysis found drastic disparities in production capacity between high-income and low- and middle-income countries and found that the majority of pandemic vaccines, in the case of a novel flu pandemic in the near future, would be egg-based. The author noted that advancing novel influenza vaccines, including mRNA vaccines, could greatly improve global production capacity and pandemic preparedness in the face of pandemic influenza, given they would be faster to produce than egg-based vaccines.A team of researchers has engineered an improved paper-based device for collecting and transporting blood samples of HIV patients. In low-resource settings with limited clinical and laboratory facilities, paper-based devices have become one way that HIV patients can collect their blood to be shipped and analyzed in distant laboratories. The new device has wax-printed patterns that create precise channels and collection spots, ensuring that it consistently collects the same volume of blood and thereby reducing the chances of inaccurate readings. A clinical pilot found that the device more accurately measured the extent of HIV infection compared to the industry gold standard and was also better at detecting drug-resistant viral mutations, enabling physicians to make better care decisions.

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PATH/Matthew Dakin
February 24, 2025

Research Roundup: Real-world study of drug-resistant TB regimen, Global flu vaccine capacity analysis, Paper-based device for blood samples

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week.

Written by Hannah Sachs-Wetstone / GHTC
Read time:
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. A prospective cohort study of patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) found that the six-month, all-oral BPaL (bedaquiline, pretomanid, and linezolid)-based regimens recommended by the World Health Organization were safe and highly effective, providing critical data from real-world settings with a high burden of drug-resistant TB to support global guidelines recommending their use. The results were comparable to previous Phase 3 clinical trials testing the regimens. Further research is needed to test the regimens among other key populations, including children and people with severe forms of extrapulmonary TB.A recently published analysis found that the 2023 global supply of seasonal influenza vaccines has been stable since 2019, suggesting that production capacity was sustained through the COVID-19 pandemic. Monitoring seasonal vaccine production capacity is important for estimating the capacity to manufacture vaccines in the case of an outbreak of pandemic influenza because pandemic influenza vaccines are produced primarily by the same or similar manufacturers, technology, and facilities as seasonal flu vaccines. The analysis found drastic disparities in production capacity between high-income and low- and middle-income countries and found that the majority of pandemic vaccines, in the case of a novel flu pandemic in the near future, would be egg-based. The author noted that advancing novel influenza vaccines, including mRNA vaccines, could greatly improve global production capacity and pandemic preparedness in the face of pandemic influenza, given they would be faster to produce than egg-based vaccines.A team of researchers has engineered an improved paper-based device for collecting and transporting blood samples of HIV patients. In low-resource settings with limited clinical and laboratory facilities, paper-based devices have become one way that HIV patients can collect their blood to be shipped and analyzed in distant laboratories. The new device has wax-printed patterns that create precise channels and collection spots, ensuring that it consistently collects the same volume of blood and thereby reducing the chances of inaccurate readings. A clinical pilot found that the device more accurately measured the extent of HIV infection compared to the industry gold standard and was also better at detecting drug-resistant viral mutations, enabling physicians to make better care decisions.
PATH/Matthew Dakin
February 18, 2025

Research Roundup: Antibiotic discovery program, Malaria vaccine candidate, Spray-dry nasal RNA vaccine

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week.

Written by Hannah Sachs-Wetstone / GHTC
Read time:
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. Last week, the Gates Foundation, the Novo Nordisk Foundation, and Wellcome announced the launch of the Gram-Negative Antibiotic Discovery Innovator, a new $50 million effort to boost the discovery of new antibiotics for gram-negative bacteria as the global threat of antimicrobial resistance continues to rise and there remains a lacking pipeline of novel antibiotics. The effort will function as a consortium, where multiple funders, research institutions, and industry partners share data and work collectively. Specifically, the project will focus on the discovery of direct-acting small-molecule antibiotics with broad-spectrum activity against Enterobacteriaceae, with Klebsiella species selected as the pathogen to be used in all proposed projects.An innovative, one-dose vaccine designed to offer high-level protection against malaria could transform global malaria efforts if proven effective in further studies. The Sanaria® PfSPZ-LARC2 Vaccine, designed by Sanaria and the Seattle Children’s Research Institute’s Center for Global Infectious Disease Research, uses advanced genetic engineering to delete two critical genes from the malaria parasite, ensuring that the parasite cannot advance to the blood stage and that the vaccine cannot cause or transmit disease. A pivotal study published last month demonstrated the remarkable potential of this approach, and clinical trials are scheduled for later this year.Last week, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) announced $5 million in funding to Ethris to support proof-of-concept research of spray-dried RNA vaccines that remain stable at room temperature and are suitable for mucosal delivery, an approach that could make these vaccines more accessible in low-resource settings and faster to roll out during outbreaks. The spray-drying technique is widely used for other health technologies and applying it to RNA vaccines helps minimize dependence on cold storage and complex delivery systems, especially in low-resource settings. Nasal delivery medicines are also well-established but used with RNA vaccines, this approach could also support their ability to remain stable and could help to offer mucosal immunity, which scientists believe can help reduce virus transmission.
NIH/Fogarty/David Rochkind
February 10, 2025

Research Roundup: AI-assisted TB drug discovery, Nasal COVID-19 vaccine trial, Uganda Ebola vaccine trial

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week.

Written by Hannah Sachs-Wetstone / GHTC
Read time:
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. A new study explores the novel use of artificial intelligence (AI) to screen for antimicrobial compound candidates that could be developed into new tuberculosis (TB) drug treatments, as the rise of drug-resistant strains of TB underscores the urgent need for new drug candidates. While discovering new TB drug candidates through traditional laboratory methods is laborious and time-consuming, sensitive machine learning is better and faster at helping interpret complicated images of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterium, accelerating TB research capabilities and helping identify optimal candidate compounds for drug development.A COVID-19 nasal vaccine will enter a Phase 1 clinical trial conducted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the United States this spring. While COVID-19 cases have fallen dramatically since the height of the pandemic, the virus continues to circulate and cause severe illness and death. The nasal vaccine is designed to induce strong immunity in the nose and upper respiratory tract where the virus enters the body, aiming to not only reduce serious illness and death but also to stop transmission in the first place, which cannot be achieved through COVID-19 vaccines that are injected into the body. If proven successful, the technology could also be adopted for other common respiratory viruses, including seasonal influenza, avian flu, and respiratory syncytial virus.Uganda recently launched a trial of IAVI’s experimental vaccine targeting the Sudan virus, which causes Ebola disease, following the identification of an outbreak in the country that has, so far, killed one person and infected two others. There are no currently approved vaccines for Sudan virus, although there is a vaccine for the Zaire strain of Ebola, highlighting the urgent need to generate data about vaccine candidates in the pipeline when outbreaks arise. Ugandan health authorities and research teams have rapidly jumped into action to prepare for the trial—2,160 doses of the trial vaccine and treatments arrived in Uganda’s capital, Kampala, over the weekend.
PATH/Enoch Kavindele Jr.
February 3, 2025

Research Roundup: New disease R&D funding, New drug-resistant TB regimens, Bird flu antibody research

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week.

Written by Hannah Sachs-Wetstone / GHTC
Read time:
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. On World Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) Day last week, the Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund announced that it is investing $12.7 million across eight projects to further the development of new technologies to help address NTDs and a range of other diseases. Specifically, the funding aims to further the development of new diagnostics and drugs for leishmaniasis, dengue, malaria, Lassa fever, Rift Valley fever, Ebola, and Marburg, which is being led by various global product development partnerships and companies, including Medicines for Malaria Venture, PATH, and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative.   Newly published research led by the global collaborative endTB project found three new safe and effective drug regimens to treat tuberculosis (TB) resistant to rifampin, the most effective first-line TB antibiotic currently available. These findings help expand the toolkit of treatments for patients with drug-resistant TB in the face of rising resistance globally, offering regimens that are shorter, less toxic, and do not require injections compared to currently available options. The new regimens use two drugs, bedaquiline and delamanid, which have been in use for just over a decade, in combination with older medications. The trial, launched in 2017, involved hundreds of patients across seven countries, including populations often excluded from clinical trials: children, people infected with HIV or hepatitis C, and women who became pregnant while on treatment, ensuring these groups are not excluded from new treatment recommendations.A recently published study found that a prophylactic antibody-based immune therapy protected monkeys against severe disease caused by H5N1 avian influenza, as the outbreak in the United States continues to cause concern. The broadly neutralizing antibody targets a relatively stable region of the virus and is therefore less prone to losing its efficacy than antibodies targeting viral structures that are prone to mutate, helping to ensure that the protection conferred by the therapy can withstand the possible emergence of virus variants. If proven successful in further studies, the therapy could be used to prevent severe disease in at-risk populations and protect first responders and other health care providers in the early stages of an outbreak, and more broadly, this research helps set the stage for the development of medical countermeasures in the case of future outbreaks of influenza.