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. Last week, BioVersys AG https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/antimicrobial-stewardship/partnership-aims-foster-development-drug-non-tb-mycobacteria announced a new agreement with Shionogi to jointly develop its novel drug for treating non-tuberculosis (TB) mycobacteria, which affects approximately 250,000 people per year, primarily in North America and Asia. Shionogi will provide $6.3 million as an upfront investment for the development of the drug candidate, BV500, through clinical studies and licensing. BioVersys has stated that the candidate has the potential to become a best-in-class therapeutic for non-TB mycobacteria infections, which are currently treated with a lengthy and complex regimen.Scientists at King’s College London have developed a new class of antifungal compounds that could lead to a promising new tool against Candida auris, a dangerous fungal pathogen and a growing global threat. The researchers modified an existing class of antifungal drugs called azoles (which can lose their effectiveness as C. auris becomes resistant to them) to be more impervious to resistance, an approach that has demonstrated promise in lab and preclinical studies. If the new antifungals continue to succeed in further preclinical studies, this research could pave the way for a new, first-in-class antifungal that continues to work in the face of resistance, helping reduce mortality and limit the spread of resistant strains of bacteria.A research team from the University of California, Riverside has made a significant advance in our basic understanding of the Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasite, a step toward the development of new and improved drugs for malaria. The researchers identified two key proteins within the parasite’s cells that control gene expression and used advanced genetic tools to reduce the expression of these proteins, which led to the death of the parasite, verifying their essential role and potential as a drug target. Crucially, these proteins also have no human counterparts. These findings help pinpoint essential targets for developing future drugs that are effective and have minimal side effects.

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 Wednesday, Gilead announced that its twice-yearly injectable drug for HIV prevention has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, the first and only such shot for HIV prevention. The drug, lenacapavir, which is already used to treat HIV in certain populations, was found to dramatically reduce the risk of infection, providing near total protection among cisgender men and women, transgender men and women, and nonbinary people in clinical trials. The twice-a-year injection offers a significant improvement over current HIV prevention options that require a daily pill or every two-month injections, helping improve uptake and adherence by providing a more discreet, private, and less cumbersome alternative. Pricing and access plans for the United States and the rest of the world will determine the scale of lenacapavir’s impact on the broader HIV epidemic.Researchers from Cornell University have found that the antibiotic rifampin, which is already widely used, is 99.9 percent effective against Salmonella Typhi, the bacterium that causes typhoid fever, which a growing threat due to antibiotic resistance. The researchers found that S. Typhi is still highly susceptible to the antibiotic and that rifampin-resistant typhoid is extremely unlikely to emerge, despite concern due to the previous emergence of rifampin-resistant tuberculosis cases. The researchers found that rifampin may also be effective against other life-threatening diseases like bacterial pneumonia and meningitis.Newly published research found that a simple, affordable device made with strips of paper was more effective than other commonly used testing methods at detecting malaria in asymptomatic people in Ghana. Malaria testing, particularly at the point of care, is essential to malaria control in endemic areas, especially as increased uptake of the new preventive malaria vaccine lowers natural immunity, raising the need for widespread surveillance. The new test is highly sensitive, offers results in about 30 minutes, and can detect even a low density of parasites in the blood, catching malaria before a patient is sick.

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 Global Antibiotic Research & Development Partnership (GARDP) announced that a landmark clinical trial evaluating antibiotic combination treatment options for newborns with sepsis has been expanded to include hospitals across nine countries in Africa and Asia. Neonatal sepsis affects up to three million babies a year globally, a crisis that has been exacerbated by increasing numbers of antibiotic-resistant cases. The NeoSep1 trial is the first time that researchers will test whether new combinations of older antibiotics are safe and effective against treating newborns with sepsis compared to commonly used antibiotic regimens. The trial aims to provide critical data to help identify new treatments that could reduce the number of deaths and expand access to treatment.A new animal study from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that H5N1 avian influenza is capable of spreading through the air, a finding that raises further concern about the ability of the virus, which continues its worrying spread among cattle populations, to cause a future pandemic. The researchers used a sample of the virus extracted from a dairy worker to infect a group of ferrets (the “gold standard” comparative animal population in flu research) that were then placed in close proximity to healthy ferrets and observed for three weeks. Three of that latter group contracted the virus without any direct physical contact with the infected ferrets, indicating that it can travel through the air, a finding that was confirmed with aerosol samples. The researchers emphasized that these findings underscore the need for continued surveillance of the ongoing outbreak.A team of researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and the Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research have been awarded £550,000 by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council to develop an effective vaccine against Campylobacter jejuni, the most common bacterial cause of infectious diarrhea, in poultry. A poultry vaccine could help reduce the rising incidence of C. jejuni human infections, which are common in young children, causing stunted growth, lifelong deficiencies, and even death. The LSHTM team has found a promising approach for developing new cost-effective vaccines, which will be furthered with the new funding.

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 group of researchers at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne, Australia have discovered a way to tackle a longstanding challenge that has eluded researchers trying to develop a cure for HIV for decades. HIV can hide in certain white blood cells, creating a reservoir in the body that can later reactivate and evade targeting by the immune system and drugs. The researchers found a way to make the virus visible using mRNA technology, an achievement previously thought impossible and a step closer toward being able to fully clear it from the body. Further research is needed to determine whether revealing the virus is enough to make it vulnerable to the immune system or whether the technology will need to be combined with other therapies, suggesting this technology is still years away from reaching humans.Recently published research examining an understudied group of coronaviruses called merbecoviruses (the same group that includes MERS) found that while most merbecoviruses are unlikely to pose a direct threat to humans, one subgroup is only one small mutation away from being able to spill over into human populations and cause a major outbreak. This subgroup of viruses, called HKU5, has been found across Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, but its natural host is in Asia: the Japanese house bat. Previous research has already found one HKU5 virus that has been documented to jump across animal species. This study and its methods, specifically the use of artificial intelligence, could be used to improve further research and support the development of new vaccines and treatments. A group of scientists in Burkina Faso have successfully completed the first phase of a clinical trial testing the PfSPZ-LARC2 vaccine for Plasmodium falciparum malaria in youths between 6 and 19 years old. The vaccine, which was previously found to be safe and effective in adults, is unique and innovative because it uses genetically engineered parasites that cannot cause disease but are potent enough to generate immunity. In fact, the vaccine has demonstrated an ability to achieve higher efficacy at a lower dose and for a longer duration than existing vaccines for malaria. If proven effective in further trials, it could represent a significant game changer in malaria control efforts, reducing the burden on health care systems and increasing convenience for people in malaria-endemic countries, as well as travelers and military personnel.