Research Roundup: WHO priority drug-resistant bacteria list, Second dengue vaccine approved, Self-collected HPV tests approved

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 study, researchers from the Baylor College of Medicine and partner institutions found that a novel, nonhormonal sperm-specific approach showed promise in mice as a reversible male contraception option. The researchers identified a small molecule that would inhibit a key protein, STK33, required for fertility in both mice and human males and generated modified versions of STK33 inhibitors to make them more stable, potent, and selective, eventually testing the most effective compound they generated in mice. The researchers hope to further evaluate the inhibitor and similar compounds to determine effectiveness as a potential contraception option. There has been research into a variety of different strategies for male contraception, but there are currently no approved options for men beyond male condoms.Tens of thousands of genetically modified mosquitoes have been released in Djibouti to stop the spread of Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes that transmit malaria as part of the pilot phase of a partnership between Oxitec, the government of Djibouti, and Association Mutualis. The modified mosquitoes carry a gene that kills female offspring, the only mosquitoes that bite and transmit malaria, before they can reach maturity. If successful, the modified mosquitoes will be tested in larger field trials, and operational deployment will continue through next year, hopefully boosting malaria control efforts. This partnership is the first time that modified mosquitoes have been released in East Africa and the second time on the African continent, although similar technology has been successfully used in Brazil, the Cayman Islands, Panama, and India, with more than one million modified mosquitoes released around the world since 2019.The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response at the US Department of Health and Human Services is moving forward with a plan to produce 4.8 million doses of H5N1 avian flu vaccine, as the current outbreak's second human case in the United States was identified this week. The two vaccine candidates are currently in bulk form, with one of the two candidate vaccine viruses reportedly well-matched to the currently circulating strain. Health officials have identified a manufacturing line at one of its manufacturing partners for fill-and-finish, which will take a couple of months to complete. Agency officials are also coordinating with mRNA vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna about their potential involvement in vaccine development. There are additional ongoing interagency discussions about what would trigger vaccine deployment, including a change in transmission propensity, like human-to-human or animal-to-human spread; any sign of increased illness severity; a change in the complexion of the cases, like a human infection with no tie to the affected dairy farms; or the identification of a mutation in the virus.

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 Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund awarded a two-year grant to the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and its partner Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation to continue lead optimization work on a novel compound to target the Trypanosoma cruzi parasite that causes Chagas disease, a neglected parasitic disease that affects an estimated 6 million people globally every year. Current treatments for Chagas, which were developed decades ago, need to be administered for eight weeks, can have serious and potentially toxic side effects, and have not been proven effective in people with severe chronic symptoms. The partners hope their work will lead to preclinical development candidate compounds and, eventually, a new medicine for Chagas disease that is safe and effective for all patients, including pregnant individuals.Researchers have developed an experimental vaccine that has the potential to protect against a broad range of coronaviruses, including known and as-of-yet-unknown varieties. The experimental vaccine was made by taking harmless proteins shared across different coronaviruses and attaching them to minuscule nanoparticles that are then injected to prime the body’s immune system to broadly target both known and unknown viruses in the same family. The vaccine induced a broad immune response to coronaviruses in mice, including to the pathogen that caused the 2003 Sars outbreak, even though proteins from that virus were not added to the vaccine. If proven safe and effective in humans, this and other proactive vaccines designed to target separate pathogens could be stockpiled by countries along with clear plans to quickly scale up production if a new pandemic-potential pathogen emerges. The universal vaccine can be made in existing facilities for microbial fermentation, and the researchers are already working with industrial partners on how to scale up production. There would need to be new processes designed with medical regulators before approval because there are no current procedures for the regulation of proactive vaccinology.Last Monday, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority announced the launch of the next generation of its accelerator network, which will include a diagnostics and medical devices program and a therapeutics hub. The former will be called the International Consortium for Research, Engineering, Acceleration of Technology Excellence and will support the development and acceleration of new diagnostics and medical devices aimed at improving health security. Along with three more hubs expected to be announced later this year, these hubs will create a global network to foster the growth of the health security innovation ecosystem, including support across the entire process, from development and evaluation to validation and commercialization of new technologies.