Ansley Kahn

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. In a new report, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security highlight 15 promising technologies that could help make the world better equipped to fight emerging infectious disease (EID) outbreaks and prevent such outbreaks from becoming catastrophic events. The list includes innovative solutions from vaccines that spread through populations like viruses to 3D printed drugs. The 15 technologies identified in the report fall under five broad categories—disease detection and surveillance, diagnostics, manufacture of pharmaceuticals, administration of vaccines and drugs, and medical care—and range in use from the early detection of an EID, to preventing its spread, and through to the care of patients. Notably, researchers looked for innovations that could be used in developing countries where EID outbreaks “hit first and hit hardest,” according to Dr. Crystal Watson, lead author of the report.  A novel synthetic DNA vaccine candidate against Ebola, which targets the virus’ surface, offered complete protection from the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus in preclinical research. Importantly, the vaccine candidate also demonstrated durability, showing strong immune responses one year after the last dose—a particularly challenging area for Ebola vaccines. Compared to traditional vaccine approaches that involve injection into muscle, synthetic non-viral–based DNA vaccines can be administered directly into the skin, resulting in consistent, potent, and rapid immunity. The antibody levels resulting from this vaccine candidate were equal to or higher than those for other vaccines currently being evaluated in the clinic at the Wistar Institute Vaccine & Immunotherapy Center, where the research was conducted. One researcher noted the success of an intradermal, low-dose regimen as encouraging in the pursuit to create safe and effective vaccines that are optimized for high-risk areas. A new type of malaria vaccine, known as a transmission-blocking vaccine (TBV), which aims to prevent mosquitoes from becoming infected by malaria parasites when feeding on infected humans, could one day become part of a suite of tools used to combat malaria. While traditionally scientists have focused on developing vaccines that prevent malaria infection from developing after a person is bitten with a parasite-carrying mosquito, a TBV works differently. A TBV signals the human body to begin making anti-malaria antibodies that will be passed to the mosquito when it bites the immunized person, disrupting the transmission cycle between mosquitoes and humans. While a TBV would not directly prevent an immunized person from getting infected, it would reduce the likelihood of people in that community becoming infected. A research team supported by the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative, the University of Buffalo and others have shown that the TBV approach could be effective. The researchers found that antibodies from a protein called Pfs25 effectively blocked the development of malaria-causing parasites in the gut of mosquitoes in animal studies.

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. Rotasiil, a first-of-its-kind thermostable vaccine to prevent rotavirus—the most common cause of severe diarrheal disease in children worldwide—has achieved prequalification from the World Health Organization. This status will allow United Nations agencies and other organizations to procure the vaccine at low-cost for use in low- and middle- income countries. Developed by the Serum Institute of India with clinical trial and licensure support from PATH, Rotasiil is an oral vaccine administered to infants in a three-dose course, which does not require refrigeration—making it easily distributable in places where power shortages and failures can disrupt the cold chain necessary to keep traditional vaccines viable. Rotasiil is the fourth rotavirus vaccine on the market, and the second developed by an Indian organization. Japanese company Kansai Plascon has launched the world’s first mosquito repellent paint in Zambia. The paint technology, which has shown to be safe in humans, disrupts the nervous system of a mosquito upon contact, reducing its ability to remain on walls where the paint has been applied. “The knock-down effect lasts for up to two years, offering lasting protection from malaria infection and other mosquito-borne diseases,” Kansai said. Mosquito repellent paint offers a new tool in the arsenal to fight malaria—one of the world’s deadliest diseases—alongside other anti-malarial measures such as bednets, prophylactics, and insecticide spraying. The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched a new partnership to strengthen the health security of the United States by focusing on the research, development, and deployment of medical countermeasures and advanced technologies to combat these threats. ASPR and DARPA will focus on two initial areas of collaboration—bacterial pathogens to combat microbial threats and the discovery of molecular biomarkers. ASPR’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and DARPA will conduct preclinical and clinical trials of a new type of therapeutic for antibiotic resistant bacteria with an aim to develop a product that mitigates the effects of multidrug-resistant infections. BARDA and DARPA will also focus on discovering and validating biomarkers—which define a person’s exposure to a virus before the person shows symptoms of infection—and developing tests that can identify infected patients quickly to help contain disease outbreaks. Through the partnership, ASPR and DARPA will increase collaboration and share data—maximizing the impact and investment of both agencies.

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. At the first-ever United Nations (UN) High-Level Meeting (HLM) on Tuberculosis (TB), member states committed to finding and treating 40 million people suffering from TB and to preventing infection in 30 million people by 2022. The political outcome declaration resulting from the HLM includes a commitment to mobilize US $13 billion for universal access to quality treatments and prevention and $2 billion for research and development (R&D) of new drugs, diagnostics, vaccines, and other tools. In addition, it highlights the need to address drug-resistant forms of TB and commits to complying with global stewardship programs in line with the UN resolution on antimicrobial resistance. An experimental vaccine, developed by GlaxoSmithKline and Aeras, reduced by half the incidence of active TB among individuals with latent TB infection in clinical trials—making it potentially the first new shot to fight the disease in over a century. Results from the Phase IIb trial of the vaccine, known as M72/AS01, show a 54 percent efficacy rate in stopping latent TB from becoming active and causing sickness. This experimental vaccine has the potential to help the estimated 1.7 billion people who have latent TB infection and are at risk of developing the disease that killed 1.6 billion people last year. The experimental vaccine will go through larger trials in the future to test its dosing schedule and to potentially target different groups that are most likely to benefit from the vaccine. A team of scientists at the Imperial College of London has developed a method of manipulating mosquito genetics to drive populations of mosquitoes toward extinction. The manipulation involves a gene drive that alters a stretch of DNA that does not vary from one mosquito to another. The altered gene disrupts a mosquito’s sexual development, making female mosquitoes infertile while forcing males to pass on the debilitating gene to all of their offspring—resulting in the population crashing over multiple generations. Results from the study in Anophele gambiae mosquitoes showed that laboratory populations of mosquitoes can become extinct within 11 generations and, according to computer models, wild populations of mosquitoes could crash in approximately 4 years. This manipulation of mosquitoes may provide a potential method of ridding the world of malaria—a disease that infected 194 million people in Africa and killed 445,000 in 2016.

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. The US government has launched its first national biodefense strategy to address naturally occurring threats, such as outbreaks of infectious diseases, alongside protections against bio-chemical weapons. The policy puts all aspects of US biodefense under one roof and establishes a Cabinet-level committee to coordinate activities. Provisions within the strategy also call for increased surveillance and research of potential global threats to prevent outbreaks from reaching American shores. Health security experts hope the release of this strategy will help to better prepare the United States to deal with such threats. For the fourth year in a row, tuberculosis (TB) remains the world’s top infectious killer—killing more than 1.6 million people annually, according to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) global TB report. The disease will receive increased political attention this week, as world leaders gather for the first-ever United Nations high-level meeting on TB. TB advocates hope the meeting will rally the global support and resources required to expedite progress. Debates between the United States and other countries regarding intellectual property had momentarily derailed negotiations on an accompanying political outcome declaration, but that is now expected to be endorsed on Thursday. The WHO TB report, which was released in advance of the meeting, also highlights a US $1.3 billion gap in funding for the research and development of new treatments to address the 3.6 million people suffering from TB who are not receiving treatment. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Duke University School of Medicine have begun enrollment for a Phase 1 trial of a new antimalarial drug, called DM1157, to test its efficacy in humans. DM1157 is a modified version of chloroquine, an antimalarial drug to which many strains of the most deadly form of malaria have grown resistant. This modified version of chloroquine interferes with the metabolism of the parasite and inhibits its ability to expel the drug. As the number of drug-resistant malaria cases grows, DM1157’s positive results during efficacy trials in animals provides hope for its efficacy in human cases.

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. Two new studies at Scripps Research have shown how human and mice antibodies can bind to and stop the infection of all five types of Ebolavirus—a key step in developing therapeutics capable of neutralizing all variants of the virus. During the studies, scientists observed the ability of a human antibody called ADI-15878 to bind directly to the viral “fusion loop,” which the virus uses to fuse with human cells to initiate infection, making it impossible for the virus to enter into human cells. Discovered in a human Ebola survivor, ADI-15878 is the only known antibody ever found to neutralize all five strains of the Ebola virus. A new study shows the potential of a novel microneedle platform to be used to administer vaccines during a pandemic. Researchers created a unique prototype vaccine that combined different technologies including: tiny microneedles that penetrate only the upper of the skin, a version of the H5N1 vaccine made from noninfectious “virus-like” particles that can be rapidly produced in tobacco plants, and an ingredient called an adjuvant that speeds up and strengthens the body’s response to the vaccine and has demonstrated protection against related viruses. While the study showed the product was effective in ferrets and appeared safe in humans, large-scale human trials are still needed. As vaccine researchers search for new approaches to combat pandemics, this prototype could lead to vaccine patches that could be distributed rapidly and administered without a nurse. Scientists plan to test the efficacy of a Zika vaccine candidate by intentionally infecting people with the virus, a strategy known as a human challenge trial. Researchers first launched the vaccine trial in March 2017 following an outbreak of the virus in the Americas in 2016 and had planned to open new trial sites in infection hot spots, but the effort is currently in limbo given the significant drop off in Zika cases. A major concern of researchers is that those participating in the trial may never be exposed to the virus, making it impossible to determine if the vaccine works. Plans to conduct a human challenge trial for this Zika vaccine candidate were halted by an ethics committee in 2017, which worried that people intentionally infected with the virus might transmit it to their sexual partners. Now, this method is being considered again as cases drop and industry loses interest in bringing a vaccine to market.

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. Germ-eating microbes may offer a new line of defense in fighting back against antibiotic-resistant bacteria, according to lab studies funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The most impressive predatory bacteria from the studies was an organism called Bdellovibrio, which preyed upon 145 of the 168 human pathogens tested, invading larger bacteria and eating them from the inside out. Researchers collected remaining ‘survivor’ bacteria, allowing them to reproduce to see if they were able to mutate and resist attacks from Bdellovibrio; however, no direct mutants ever became resistant. This microbe-eating method has been shown effective in fighting bacterial lung disease in rats. No germ-eating microbe experiments have been performed in humans to date. The government of Burkina Faso has granted scientists permission to release genetically engineered mosquitoes, marking a key step in using bioengineering to eventually eliminate malaria in the region. The impending release will also mark the first time a genetically engineered animal will be released into the wild in Africa. The mosquitoes being released will be mostly male with a ‘sterile male’ mutation, meaning none will be able to produce offspring. Although these mosquitoes won’t have any specific mutations related to malaria transmission, researchers hope this release will foster improved trust in science and research among government regulators and local residents and inform future releases. This inaugural release will lay the groundwork for teams in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Uganda to eventually release “gene drive” mosquitoes that will dramatically and rapidly reduce the mosquito population. NASA is using weather satellites to track and predict disease outbreaks before they occur, deploying this technology to track cholera outbreaks in Yemen. Given cholera infections typically result from drinking contaminated water, the team at NASA used environmental data such as rainfall levels and water and air temperatures to build their prediction map and pinpoint where the worst cholera outbreaks will likely occur. NASA’s model proved 92 percent accurate in predicting cholera outbreaks in Yemen, though the information came too late to be useful to the medical teams on the ground. Researchers have continued to improve their prediction algorithm and hope to deploy their data this year to direct health workers to critical areas and save lives.