Breakthroughs Blog: Vaccines

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. This month, after nearly ten years of effort, the first batch of malaria drugs manufactured with a new, semisynthetic form of a key ingredient, artemisinin, will start reaching African countries battling the disease. The lifesaving drugs, manufactured by Sanofi—a French pharmaceutical company—are the first of their kind to use semisynthetic artemisinin in place of the plant-derived form of artemisinin used in the past. The new shipment marks a milestone in global health, potentially improving access to treatment for the millions of people, mostly African children, sickened by malaria every year. The Global Coalition to Advance Preterm Birth Research (GCAPR), a new partnership initiated by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the March of Dimes Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and GHTC member the Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth, has been created to take on the high rate of preterm births and help prevent the health risks associated with them. An estimated 15 million babies are born preterm every year and more than 1 million die within the first 30 days of birth. The National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has performed a successful early-stage clinical trial for a vaccine against mosquito-borne viral illness chikungunya. There are currently no vaccines or specific drugs to prevent or treat chikungunya, and as of this month there have been more than 570,000 confirmed or suspected cases reported throughout North and South America. The first-ever Africa Leaders Summit this month was a clear example that partnerships between the United States and African nations are strong and building momentum. The summit was a busy few days with a flurry of announcements, but the practical implications of the summit for global health innovation were examined by GHTC Policy Officer Ashley Bennett in a recent post on Breakthroughs. In The Huffington Post’s blog, Dr. Jonathan Mermin—director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for HIV and AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention—writes about the need for new tools to fight tuberculosis (TB). He states, “Until we have better ways of detecting and treating TB, thousands of Americans and millions of people worldwide will continue to suffer from an illness that should have been consigned to history long ago.”

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. This month at the Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development’s DevelopmentXChange event in Washington, DC, bright minds from all over the world came together to display groundbreaking prevention and treatment approaches for pregnant women and newborns in low- and middle-income countries. The event also offered an opportunity for policymakers and decision makers to talk about the importance of science, research, and innovation for global health. During last week’s US-Africa Leaders Summit, the White House released a fact sheet on American and African cooperation for global health. As the world’s largest donor to global health, the United States is committed to working with African governments to improve the health of its citizens—including achieving an AIDS-free generation, ending preventable maternal and child deaths, enhancing global health security, and supporting African countries invest in the health of its own citizens. The World Health Organization said it thinks an Ebola vaccine should be ready for public use by 2015. There is currently no vaccine or cure for Ebola, which is currently widespread in parts of West Africa and has killed over 900 people since March of this year. This year’s outbreak is the biggest ever reported since Ebola was discovered over 40 years ago. In the Huffington Post’s blog, Dr. Jonathan Mermin—director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for HIV and AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, and Tuberculosis (TB) Prevention—writes about the desperate need for new tools to prevent, detect, and treat TB and that “until we have better ways of detecting and treating TB, thousands of Americans and millions of people worldwide will continue to suffer from an illness that should have been consigned to history long ago.” An experimental vaccine to prevent dengue could be commercially available by July 2015, according to the vaccine’s makers—pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur. There is currently no vaccine to prevent this mosquito-borne disease that affects thousands of people—mainly in low- and middle-income countries—every year.

During the past year, leaders from the US Global Leadership Coalition (USGLC)—an advocacy organization promoting diplomacy and development—have traveled across America seeking out innovators and innovations that best demonstrate how strategic US investments in global development can enhance America’s foreign policy and security interests—an approach USGLC calls “smart power” diplomacy. The VVM is a health innovation that is saving lives and money. Photo: Umit Kartoglu Not surprisingly, USGLC leaders discovered that investments in global health innovation are an essential part of America’s “smart power” toolbox. As USGLC leaders traveled from city to city, they discovered numerous examples of how American businesses and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are working with the US government to deliver global health innovations that are not only improving lives worldwide, but also creating jobs here in the United States and enhancing America’s global leadership. In fact, nearly half of the 30 programs USGLC identified as “leading American innovators” in its Innovations in Smart Power report—released today—focused on improving global health and nutrition. The report featured two innovations developed by GHTC members, including the PATH-developed Vaccine Vial Monitor (VVM), which indicates whether vaccines have been damaged from exposure to heat. The VVM not only saves lives, but also produces an estimated $14 million annual savings by preventing undamaged vaccines from being discarded. USGLC also featured the Global Health Fellows Program II—led by the Public Health Institute—which brings private sector experts from America to low- and middle-income countries in Africa and Asia—for up to three months—to share their expertise in research and medical technologies with healthcare workers in local communities. Two interns sponsored by the Global Health Fellow Program help build a house for an HIV expectant mother in Uganda. Photo: Global Health Fellows Program II/PHI Other creative global health innovations featured in the report include low-cost toilets to reduce diarrheal disease, fortified peanut paste to combat malnutrition, and an easy squeeze pouch to help HIV-positive mothers deliver antiretroviral drugs to their newborn babies. All of these projects were supported by the US government, and demonstrate how American ingenuity and investments can tackle some of the world’s greatest global health problems. It’s clear that sustained American investment in global health innovation not only supports domestic and international health improvements and economic growth, but also serves as an important diplomatic tool and a demonstration of America’s character. In other worlds, investing in global health innovation=smart power.

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. Last week, Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevoelkerung (DSW) attended the seventh European & Developing Countries Clinical Trial Partnership (EDCTP) Forum in Berlin, Germany. Anne Hradský—advocacy coordinator at DSW—writes about the value of EDCTP, the progress it has achieved, and news and insights that came out of this year’s forum. The Lancet has published results for the first-ever large-scale Phase III clinical trial for a vaccine against dengue fever. The results show that the three-dose vaccine could reduce cases of dengue fever by 56.5 percent and dengue hemorrhagic fever—a more severe form of dengue—by up to 88.5 percent. The vaccine is being developed by pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur. A new form of easy-to-use injectable contraceptive Depo-Provera—called Sayana® Press—was introduced in Burkina Faso last week as part of a four-country rollout this year. The new form uses PATH-developed Uniject™—an autodisable injection system involving a plastic bubble with a needle attached and filled with one dose of the contraceptive. The device will be introduced next in Uganda, Senegal, and Niger. The Global Post has published the first article in a special report examining how US-backed public-private partnerships (PPPs) are making an impact on global health and whether there is evidence justifying increased US investment in PPPs, especially by the US Agency for International Development. Leaders of the biopharmaceutical research community called on Congress to improve the clinical research process to accelerate the discovery and development of new medical therapies. The 21st Century Cures Initiative—part of the House Energy & Commerce Committee—asked experts to present “strategies for reducing regulatory oversight, speeding up clinical research processes, and utilizing technology to better understand the potential benefits and risks of promising new treatments.”