Breakthroughs Blog: Malaria

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 study published last week found that a subset of cells in dormant HIV reservoirs spontaneously produce HIV RNA and proteins, prompting the need for further research into the consequences for the immune system of these ongoing viral interactions in people living with HIV and receiving treatment. This research suggests that the RNA and proteins produced by the reservoirs could be behind inflammation, accelerated cardiac disease, frailty, and premature osteoporosis, which can persist in people who are otherwise successfully treated for HIV. Future studies will need to examine these reservoirs in more diverse populations, but this research could lead to the identification of new ways to target these remaining active viruses in people receiving HIV treatment to ensure that the virus does not rebound and to address their potential health consequences.New research has identified the spread of new strains of malaria parasites in Ethiopia that are resistant to current artemisinin-based treatments and indetectable by common diagnostic tests. This discovery follows the recent identification of strains in other regions of Africa that were resistant to either treatment or testing, although the Ethiopia strain is the first identified resistant to both. The spread of these strains could be a major challenge to efforts to eliminate malaria globally. This most recent finding also underscores the urgent need for both close monitoring of the spread of resistance among malaria parasites, as well as development of new therapies and vaccines.Last week, GARDP announced a sublicense agreement with the Indian company Orchid Pharma to manufacture Shionogi’s antibiotic cefiderocol, enabling Orchid to produce the drug more cheaply for low- and middle-income countries in the face of global gaps in access to antibiotics and rising rates of antimicrobial resistance. This agreement builds on a partnership between GARDP, Shionogi, and the Clinton Health Initiative, which granted GARDP the license last year. Cefiderocol is on the World Health Organization’s Model List of Essential Medicines and is considered globally to be an important weapon against difficult-to-treat, multidrug-resistant infections, but it has not yet been made commercially available in the majority of low- and middle-income countries.

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, a landmark study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases confirmed that the benefits of combining the RTS,S malaria vaccine with preventative antimalarial drugs in settings of high seasonable malaria transmission continue over five years. Specifically, the study found that the vaccine-drug combination reduced severe malaria cases and deaths in young children by nearly two-thirds compared to either RTS,S vaccination or seasonal malaria chemoprevention alone and that the efficacy of RTS,S in preventing malaria in highly seasonal settings was similar to seasonal malaria chemoprevention. These results underscore the importance of integrating multiple prevention tools into existing malaria control efforts to alleviate the remaining burden of malaria.The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced recipients for the first $1.4 billion round of funding for Project NextGen, the successor to Operation Warp Speed, which includes awards to develop more effective and longer-lasting COVID-19 vaccines, a new monoclonal antibody, and technologies to streamline manufacturing. Regeneron, the Global Health Investment Corporation, and Johnson & Johnson Innovation are among the first group of recipients. HHS said these awards are a catalyst to kick staff research and anticipates announcing additional awards for the $5 billion program by the end of the year.  The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week approved Abrysvo, Pfizer’s respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine for pregnant people, which is aimed at protecting newborns from the virus in their first six months of life. The announcement follows the agency’s approval of Abrysvo for adults 60 and older. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to recommend the vaccine soon, hopefully setting the country up for a healthier fall and winter season ahead with AstraZeneca and Sanofi’s Beyfortus RSV monoclonal antibody for infants also approved earlier this summer and updated COVID-19 shots expected in the coming weeks. 

In recognition of World Mosquito Day on August 20, 2023, GHTC is testing our readers’ knowledge of mosquito-borne diseases and ongoing efforts to develop treatments, vaccines, vector-control innovations, and other tools to outsmart the world's deadliest animal. Test your knowledge by taking the quiz below!

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 have discovered that a naturally occurring strain of bacteria could help reduce the transmission of malaria by stopping the development of parasites in a mosquito’s gut. The bacteria, TC1, was found by chance when GSK scientists noticed that one of their mosquito colonies had stopped becoming infected with malaria parasites and later identified TC1 as the cause. Researchers have since observed that the bacteria works by secreting a small molecule, called harmane, which inhibits the parasite’s growth and that can be ingested by mosquitoes if mixed with sugar or absorbed by contact, opening the possibility for it to be used as an abatement tool. A recent study found that the bacteria can reduce a mosquito’s parasitic load by up to 73 percent, and trials in Burkina Faso are ongoing to assess the intervention’s effectiveness and safety in real-world settings.An international team of researchers has identified a genetic variant among some people of African ancestry that is associated with them having naturally lower viral loads of HIV—thereby slowing their illness progression and lowering the risk of them transmitting the virus. According to the researchers, this is the first new genetic variant related to HIV infection discovered within the last nearly 30 years. Between 4 to 13 percent of people of African origin are thought to carry this variant, which was discovered through an analysis of the DNA of almost 4,000 people of African ancestry infected with HIV-1. The scientists now intend to continue studies to more fully understand how exactly this variant impacts HIV replication.Health experts are warning that dengue poses a danger to pregnant women, as new research has found that the disease can cause serious health complications for both mothers and their unborn babies. A recent study from the University of Surrey found that mild infection can make a pregnant individual 77 percent more likely to give birth before 32 weeks and can more than double the risk of the child being born with extremely low birth weight, which can affect brain development. This work builds on prior research that found pregnant women are three to four times more likely to die after becoming infected and 450 times more likely if their infection progresses into dengue hemorrhagic fever. There are currently no specific treatments for dengue, and existing vaccines are not recommended for pregnant women.