Breakthroughs Blog: NTDs

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. Last week, US policymakers and global health advocates came together to talk about progress made on preventing maternal and child deaths. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) hosted a high-level forum called Acting on the Call: Ending Preventable Child and Maternal Deaths to both celebrate progress and assess the challenges that remain. The National Institutes of Health has awarded Boston Medical Center $861,000 to train Ugandans basic research for tuberculosis and emerging diseases. Boston Medical Center is one of five institutions to receive similar funding to enhance infectious disease research in low- and middle-income countries. Sabin Vaccine Institute’s Peter Hotez writes in the Huffington Post about the latest developments in hookworm vaccine development and the efforts of HOOKVAC—a global consortium uniting academic, medical, and research partners to find a vaccine to prevent neglected tropical disease hookworm, which currently more than 400 million people suffer from. ASPIRE—one of two late-stage clinical trials for a microbicide to protect women from HIV—has completed enrollment of trial participants, with 2,629 women from 15 trial sites in Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Now that enrollment is complete, we could potentially find out results from this pivotal trial by late 2015, early 2016. GHTC member Jhpiego has been awarded the US government’s largest project to end preventable maternal and child deaths. The Maternal and Child Survival Program, a 5-year, $500 million agreement supported by the USAID, will accelerate the rapid expansion of innovative, high-impact health approaches in 24 priority countries in order to save the lives of every woman and child in need. At an event last week launching the Pediatric HIV Treatment Initiative, panelists discussed the need for “the right medicines for pediatric HIV”—including the need for simplified treatments, and developing, producing, and distributing these medicines to children in low- and middle-income countries.

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. As the DC summer kicks into full swing, Congress has had a busy month moving forward fiscal year (FY) 2015 funding legislation for a variety of government programs including global health research and development (R&D). Last week, both the House and Senate State and Foreign Operations (SFOPs) appropriations subcommittees held mark-ups of their draft bills. Unfortunately, the results were lukewarm for many global health R&D programs. Sens. Cardin (D-MD), Boozman (R-AR), and Coons (D-DE), along with Reps. Castro (D-TX) and McCaul (R-TX) have introduced legislation to authorize the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Global Development Lab. The Lab would expand innovative public-private partnerships focused on ending extreme poverty. A group of 35 leading scientists have come together to explore new strategies to accelerate vaccine development for deadly diseases such as malaria, HIV, tuberculosis. The scientists are part of a new initiative—called the Human Vaccines Project—aimed at paving a road map of the human immune system to help researchers speed up the development of vaccines for existing and emerging diseases. SciDev.Net reports that despite the fact that the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Re:Search project has brokered at least 60 partnerships to facilitate patent sharing between owners and researchers since 2011, no new drugs or therapies are in development as of today. However, Thomas Bombelles—head of global health at WIPO—says the creation of partnerships is an important first step and that WIPO now has funding to build research capacity in low- and middle-income countries, as well as aid information flow. USAID has released its report to Congress on its global health programs during FY 2013. The report describes the agency’s work to “end extreme poverty through its contributions in global health by ending preventable child and maternal deaths, creating an AIDS-free generation, and protecting communities from infectious diseases.” Pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson & Johnson will collaborate to develop a new HIV treatment that will require only a single pill. If the trials are successful, the new treatment could offer a less toxic alternative to the current therapies available to treat HIV.

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. Last week, the Center for Strategic and International Studies hosted a panel on the occasion of the release of its summary report, Strategic US Leadership—Essential to Address the Global Tuberculosis Pandemic, which examines US approaches to tackling tuberculosis (TB) both in the United States and abroad. The report concludes that the United States needs to better lead, coordinate, and prioritize its TB efforts, as well as create robust, long-term research partnerships with key institutions in select emerging economies to promote the discovery and development of new TB tools. GHTC member PATH has been awarded a three-year, US$15.6 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop effective treatments for severe acute secretory diarrhea (ASD). The new grant will support a portfolio approach to drug development in an effort to maximize the chances of successful drug candidates to treat ASD, as well as support new engagement with the public and private sectors. Last week, the US House of Representatives introduced the End Neglected Tropical Diseases Act in an effort to turn the tide in the fight against neglected tropical diseases. The bill was introduced by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and already has bipartisan support from Reps. Matt Salmon (R-AZ), Hank Johnson (D-GA), and Greg Meeks (D-NY).   Osman Sankoh, executive director of INDEPTH, emphasized the important role of research and innovation for development in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in The Lancet Global Health Blog. Sankoh writes that “stronger international commitment to investing in research, development, and innovation in LMICs” is crucial in the post-2015 development agenda. He added that “research into health threats not only saves lives—it also helps governments and donors to save money.” Scientists at Imperial College London have created genetically-modified mosquitoes that produce 95 percent male offspring with the goal of helping control malaria. They believe introducing these mosquitoes into the normal mosquito population could lead to a shortage of females and a crash in overall population, thus reducing malaria incidences. GHTC member Aeras has released a new film exploring the TB crisis in the mines of South Africa. The film—called Undermined—looks at “the river of TB flowing out from the mines, and why a vaccine is critical to the global fight against this disease.”

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. Kaitlin Christenson, director of the GHTC, summarizes news out of the World Health Assembly (WHA) impacting the global health research and development (R&D) community including debates on the post-Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination and post-2015 development agenda, and themes related to regulatory system strengthening, access to essential medicines, and the value of R&D. Renate Baehr—executive director of Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevoelkerung—writes about the next rendition of the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership and how its expansion will impact more lives in low- and middle-income countries. She discusses how the program has been broadened to include neglected tropical diseases and how African countries will now fully participate in the group’s governance and decision making. The Canadian government announced it would provide $12 million to Grand Challenges Canada to finance innovations to improve maternal and child health in the developing world. The funding will support 65 projects to be implemented across 25 low-and middle-income countries. The announcement came in advance of the Canadian Prime Minister’s global summit on maternal, newborn, and child health taking place in Toronto from May 28-30. Wired reports on the passage of a resolution at WHA to create a global action plan to tackle the emerging problem of antibiotic resistance that will include exploring technology innovations in diagnostic testing and new drug development. The article notes that some experts believe this will not do enough to stem the problem and are calling for the creation of an intergovernmental body on antibiotic resistance that would be similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.