A report from GHTC and Policy Cures Research examines how US federal funding for global health R&D is delivering impact both abroad and at home.

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GHTC’s annual policy report: How the US can help sustain incredible progress in global health research

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PATH/Aaron Joel Santos

Today, the GHTC will release our third annual policy report. This year’s report will continue the tradition for which we’ve become known in the world of global health research and product development—releasing recommendations for how US policymakers can continue to advance innovation and save lives around the world.

February 27, 2012 by Kim Lufkin

Kim Lufkin, GHTC’s communications officer, writes about the coalition’s upcoming third annual policy report. The report will be launched today at a Capitol Hill briefing.

Today, the GHTC will release our third annual policy report. This year’s report will continue the tradition for which we’ve become known in the world of global health research and product development—releasing recommendations for how US policymakers can continue to advance innovation and save lives around the world. The recommendations are backed by the collective voice of our strong membership of nearly 40 nonprofit groups working to advance new vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, and other products that change the course of global public health.

GHTC releases policy report to provide recommendations for sustaining progress in global health research

When I began the process of writing the report back in December, I initially struggled with how to make this year’s report unique. I soon realized that I didn’t need to worry on this front, as there have been several exciting research breakthroughs—such as new results from the RTS,S malaria vaccine trials and using HIV treatment as prevention—in the past year. The past 12 months have also seen some notable achievements in the realm of US policies for global health innovation. The report celebrates these successes, and urges US policymakers to maintain this recent momentum:

"In recent years, the global public health landscape has seen incredible progress. Scientific leadership and a commitment to research have led to the development of game-changing innovations—including new vaccines, drugs, and diagnostic products—that are transforming global public health. Other groundbreaking health tools are closer than ever before, like the first-ever malaria vaccine,new HIV prevention options,desperately needed tuberculosis (TB) therapies,and drugs to treat neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) that affect the poorest of the poor. … US investments in global health research can produce real results, and the nation must persist in our efforts to develop the next generation of lifesaving health products.”

On a more somber note, the report recognizes that the United States is facing severe economic constraints. The tight budgetary times have already impacted programs and funding for global health and research:

“Today’s budget constraints mean that even the most essential programs are at risk, and over the past year, Congress has reduced funding for foreign affairs and international aid programming. Amidst these drastic cuts to broader international aid efforts, some global health and R&D [research and development] programs have seen slight increases or flat funding levels. However, these increases are not enough to make up for the huge disparity in current funding levels for global health R&D and what is actually needed to fully fund these lifesaving efforts. While support for some global health and R&D programs has modestly increased or remained flat-funded, support for other global health R&D programs—including funding for some key product development partnerships—has been severely cut.”

It would be an incredible loss if widespread cuts in global health and research were to take place just as science is on the cusp of remarkable breakthroughs for new products. By following the recommendations in the GHTC’s third annual policy report, US policymakers can help take the next generation of lifesaving global health products over the research finish line. Even in this constrained fiscal environment, US leaders cannot lose sight of the end goal—saving lives worldwide.

You can read the online version of the GHTC’s third annual policy report on our website.

About the author

Kim LufkinGHTC

Kim Lufkin is a communications officer at GHTC.

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Research Roundup: First-of-its-kind mpox vaccine trial, New treatment-resistant malaria drug, Genetically modified mosquitos

Written by Hannah Sachs-Wetstone / GHTC
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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 new, first-of-its-kind trial will assess the safety and immunogenicity of Bavarian Nordic’s MVA-BN mpox vaccine in pregnant and breastfeeding women and infants under two years old, two populations at risk of severe complications from mpox but not currently eligible for vaccination. MVA-BN is the only vaccine for mpox prequalified by the World Health Organization and is currently approved for healthy adults and adolescents, but additional data from this trial could help expand access for additional key populations amid the ongoing mpox outbreak. The trial, which will start early next year, is jointly funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Global Health EDCTP3.Researchers from the University of Glasgow have developed a new drug that could help combat the spread of treatment-resistant malaria, as the disease continues to kill more than 600,000 people every year and Plasmodium falciparum, a mosquito vector that spreads malaria, grows increasingly resistant to artemisinin, the frontline malaria treatment. The drug, adapted from a cancer treatment approach, works by permanently disabling a protein that P. falciparum uses to duplicate itself in humans. The researchers behind the drug think it could be more effective than current drugs at all stages of malaria infection, potentially with only one dose.A research team from the University of California, Santa Barbara has found a way to potentially reduce the spread of mosquito-borne diseases by disrupting male mosquitoes’ ability to hear, which is essential for them to mate and breed. Male mosquitoes rely on the sound of female mosquitoes’ wingbeats in order to find and mate with them. By altering a genetic pathway that male mosquitoes use for hearing, the researchers were able to stop them mating entirely, preventing female mosquitoes, the ones that spread diseases to humans, from having babies and reducing overall mosquito populations. Specifically, the researchers studied Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which spread diseases including dengue, yellow fever, and Zika.
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Research Roundup: Noninvasive malaria test, Mpox vaccine trial for kids, Novel class of antimicrobial agents

Written by Hannah Sachs-Wetstone / GHTC
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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. Recently published research found that a new, noninvasive test for malaria could provide a more reliable, safer, quicker, and more sensitive diagnostic option in low- and middle-income countries. The Cytophone, a tabletop printer-sized device, uses targeted lasers and ultrasound to detect malaria-infected cells in the bloodstream via a small, noninvasive probe placed on the back of a person’s hand. Malaria-infected red blood cells accumulate a by-product with unique properties that can be distinguished from normal red blood cells when they pass through a laser. The test, which provides results within minutes, was found to be as good or better at detecting symptomatic Plasmodium falciparum malaria infections than the current gold standard point-of-care methods for malaria testing, which require blood samples and special laboratory equipment. The next phase of testing the device will also investigate whether the device can detect and distinguish between other species.Last Tuesday, Bavarian Nordic announced the start of a clinical study of the MVA-BN® mpox/smallpox vaccine in children between 2 and 11 years old, who are highly vulnerable to infection during the ongoing mpox emergency. The study, which currently has sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo and plans to include sites in Uganda as well, is investigating the safety and immunogenicity of the vaccine in children compared to adults. Last month, the World Health Organization prequalified the vaccine for adolescents between 12 and 17 years old, following the European Medicines Agency’s approval for this age group. Results from the new trial could support an extension of the current approval.Researchers have identified a novel class of antimicrobial agents known as encrypted peptides that play a key role in the immune system’s response to bacterial infections, opening up new possibilities for combating drug-resistant infections as antimicrobial resistance continues to grow as a global health threat. The immune system is traditionally thought to rely primarily on proteins explicitly linked to immune functions, but this new research reveals that other structural proteins contribute to antimicrobial defenses. Leveraging the immune system’s natural defenses through these non-immune proteins could allow researchers to develop effective antibiotic therapies less prone to resistance.