Research Roundup: hookworm vaccine trial, Grand Challenges turns ten, NIH funding for Ebola and more

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. National Geographic takes an in-depth looks at how scientific hurdles, ethical concerns, and politics have slowed progress on the development of a vaccine against Ebola. The piece traces the development of the experimental vaccines and treatments currently being tested and examines how funding constraints and ethical decisions on how to allocate research funds relative to disease burden have impeded the development of an Ebola vaccine. Devex previews the conversation and debate that will soon unfold about how the world will successfully finance the Sustainable Development Goals. In July 2015, the international development community will gather in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at the International Conference on Financing for Development to tackle this issue. With many traditional donor countries still struggling economically and failing to meet funding targets for development assistance, the article discusses the challenge of putting together a plan to finance what looks to be an ambitious set of developments goals. Malaria No More and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation explore the next generation of treatments that seek to eliminate the malaria parasite from the human body. While malaria research has traditionally focused on blocking transmission of the parasite by protecting people from mosquito bites, new research is exploring ways to interrupt the transmission of the parasite from man back to mosquito. In an interview on NBC’s Meet the Press, Dr. Anthony Fauci—head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health—said he disagreed with Dr. Francis Collins statement last week that an Ebola vaccine would likely have already been discovered if it were not for federal budget cuts. While Dr. Fauci noted that budget cuts have slowed down research overall, he said he would not speculate about what medical developments were prevented as a result of these cuts.

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. GHTC member PATH—along with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Serum Institute of India (SII)—will receive a national award for this year’s most outstanding intellectual property licensing deal for the group’s technology transfer of the MenAfriVac™ vaccine—a low-cost meningitis vaccine specifically developed for people in sub-Saharan Africa. The 2014 Deal of Distinction Award—which recognizes excellence in licensing deals—will be presented to the group by the Licensing Executives Society at its annual meeting in early October. In a recent FDA Voice blog post, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg writes about FDA’s new strategic priorities. Given that the FDA continues to expand its global reach, and that nearly 40 percent of medicines Americans consume are developed outside the United States, the agency has established five strategic priorities: regulatory science, globalization, safety and quality, smart regulation, and stewardship. Policy Cures writes in their monthly update, RADAR, about recent news on global health research and development in Australia. Australia has committed AUD$30 million in annual funding to health research for development—including $10 million for product development partnerships. Five million dollars of funding could also be used for a health innovation fund (possibly a Grand Challenges Australia). As the Ebola outbreak in West Africa continues, the Center for Global Development looks at ways to find a cure for this deadly disease. They argue that two things are needed: cost-effective thresholds for investments in global health, and an Advance Market Commitment to accelerate the development of new vaccines for Ebola and other neglected diseases.