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.

Search the GHTC website

Research Roundup: Early data suggests COVID-19 patients are responding to remdesivir, Sanofi & GSK partner to develop coronavirus vaccine, and US halts payments to WHO

Read time:
PATH/Gabe Bienczycki

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week.

April 20, 2020 by 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. 

Early data from two phase 3 clinical trials at the University of Chicago testing Gilead Sciences’ antiviral medicine remdesivir among COVID-19 patients is showing rapid recoveries in fever and respiratory symptoms among the patients. The university recruited 125 patients with COVID-19 to participate in these studies, of which 113 had severe cases of the disease. Researchers overseeing the trials reported nearly all patients were discharged from the hospital in less than one week after receiving daily infusions, noting only two patients have died. Although public health experts largely view these results as encouraging, clinical trials of remdesivir, including those with randomized control groups, are being run concurrently at other institutions to determine if this drug is safe and effective against COVID-19. Positive results from these trials could lead to fast approvals by the US Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory agencies in what could be the first approved treatment for the disease.

Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) are joining forces to develop a vaccine for COVID-19. Sanofi will test its experimental coronavirus vaccine with GSK supplying some of the adjuvants—additional ingredients that improve efficacy and make it easier to produce vaccines in larger quantities. The companies plan to start human trials in the second half of this year, with the goal of having a vaccine available by the second half of 2021 if the studies are successful. If this partnership does produce a vaccine, GSK has also committed to reinvest any short-term profit from the vaccine into COVID-19 research and long-term pandemic preparedness. This partnership is one among many working to develop a COVID-19 vaccine. Earlier this year, Sanofi partnered with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, a US agency focused on funding research and development for global health threats. In a statement, both companies pledged to make any vaccine that is developed affordable and accessible worldwide.

Last week, President Trump announced he was halting US payments to the World Health Organization (WHO) pending a 60 to 90-day review. In his announcement, President Trump cited the organization’s failure to properly investigate early reports of the virus’ emergence and to stop its spread after it first appeared in China as reasons for halting payments. President Trump accused WHO of being China-centric and alleged the organization was critical of his administration’s travel ban from China as COVID-19 continued to spread globally. President Trump’s announcement has prompted international outcry with many noting now is not the time to end support for WHO. The US government contributed nearly US$900 million to WHO’s 2018–2019 budget, representing one-fifth of the agency’s operating budget for those years.

Categories: COVID-19, FDA, Malaria, Research Roundup, Vaccines, WHO

About the author

Ansley KahnGHTC

Ansley Kahn is a senior program assistant at GHTC who supports GHTC's communications and member engagement activities.

Other Breakthroughs Blog posts you may like:
PATH/ Patrick McKern
April 27, 2020

Research Roundup: Caution on hydroxychloroquine, BARDA director ousted, first at-home COVID-19 test

Written by Julien Rashid / GHTC
Read time:
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 the largest study yet of the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine’s effect on patients with COVID-19, there was a higher rate of deaths among those being treated with hydroxychloroquine and hydroxychloroquine plus the antibiotic azithromycin than those who received standard care. The study was a retrospective analysis of treatments for 368 patients rather than a rigorous, randomized controlled trial. It’s also important to note that patients who were treated with the drug were those who were the most sick. Yet, the study raises further questions about this treatment that has been widely used during the pandemic and promoted by President Trump. Reflecting on these findings, a panel of experts from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released new COVID-19 treatment guidelines that specifically caution against the use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, with and without azithromycin, outside of clinical trials.Dr. Rick Bright has been transferred from his position as director of the Biomedical Advanced Research Authority (BARDA)—a key agency involved in developing COVID-19 medical countermeasures—for a more narrowly focused position at NIH, just as BARDA has received supplemental funding more than ten times larger than its base funding of US $562 million to support coronavirus product development. Dr. Bright is asserting he was removed from his position because he pressed for rigorous vetting of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug that has been frequently touted by President Trump as a potential treatment for COVID-19.The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved under emergency use authorization the first of its kind at-home diagnostic test for COVID-19. Developed by LabCorp, the Pixel COVID-19 test includes an at-home collection kit, which will need to be ordered by a doctor, that provides patients with a nasal swab and saline solution for self-sampling. Patients will swab their noses, then mail their samples to LabCorp testing centers where LabCorp will use real-time PCR for diagnosis.
April 13, 2020

Research Roundup: NIH starts hydroxychloroquine clinical trial, clinical trial begins of second US COVID-19 vaccine,...

Written by Ansley Kahn / GHTC
Read time:
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 National Institutes of Health (NIH) began enrolling patients in a study to test hydroxychloroquine—a malaria drug also used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and lupus—as a potential therapy for patients hospitalized with symptomatic COVID-19. Although President Trump has repeatedly touted hydroxychloroquine as a “game-changer” treatment in combating the novel coronavirus, the drug has yet to be proven safe and effective as a COVID-19 therapy in a clinical trial. This NIH-funded trial is one of 18 trials in the United States seeking to determine if hydroxychloroquine can treat COVID-19. The US Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency authorization allowing doctors to prescribe hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to treat COVID-19—leading to a spike in demand and causing shortages.US researchers began clinical trials of a second experimental COVID-19 vaccine that uses a skin-deep shot instead of the usual deeper injection. This study is evaluating if two doses of Inovio Pharmaceuticals’ vaccine candidate is safe enough for efficacy larger tests. The Inovio vaccine works by packaging a section of the virus’ code inside synthetic DNA which is then injected into the skin. The cells act a mini factory, producing harmless protein copies which prompt the immune system to make protective antibodies against them should the real virus ever come along. After the injection, researchers use a device to give the injection site an electrical zap to help the vaccine more easily penetrate and get to work. This vaccine—like the NIH and Moderna’s vaccine candidate—is not made using the actual virus, meaning there’s no chance of getting infected from the vaccine and that it is able to be produced more quickly than traditional vaccines.Australian researchers have published a study showing ivermectin, a drug commonly used to treat parasitic infections, can also kill coronavirus in a laboratory setting in under 48 hours. Research was carried out on cell cultures in the lab, which does not always translate to effectiveness in people who have contracted the infection. The exact manner in which the drug kills the virus is unknown, but researchers say it was likely done by "dampening down" the ability of host cells to clear the drug. Ivermectin has already been studied and approved to treat other conditions, offering an advantage over new drug development—a long process that typically involves many years of studying safety and efficacy before being able to reach human patients. Further research is needed to determine whether the drug could be used to treat COVID-19.