Twenty six current and past ASTMH presidents call for Congress to act on Zika funding

Erin Will Morton. Photo: GHTCChange is never easy, and today is no exception. On my last day with GHTC, I have so much to look back at and reflect on. It is a bittersweet transition to leave this great team of people. Together with our members we have built a strong coalition and can be proud of our impact in global health research and development (R&D). But today is not a day to look back. It is time to look forward. On to 2017 and the future of global health R&D. We have a lot of work ahead of us and much to look forward to. The coalition will continue to thrive and be the strong collective voice of the global health research community. In my new role as a member of the coalition, I look forward to working with all of you to hold policymakers accountable for the public sector’s role in research. We know our mission is strong. We know we fight for a good cause. But it is not always that easy to convince decision-makers that this is the right thing to do. To help build our case, GHTC is working on two reports to help build our advocacy capacity. The first is a comprehensive overview of the US government’s role in global health R&D. Examining both funding and policies, GHTC and the research team at Duke University’s Margolis Center for Health Policy and Global Health Institute are digging deep on what the government is doing, where there are gaps, what is working well, and what could be done better or different. Even when things seem to be working, we must continue to question process and look to find new solutions to advance the development of new tools to address our most pressing global health challenges. GHTC’s second report is an update to our 2012 Saving Lives and Creating Impact: Why investing in global health research works report with Policy Cures. Once again, GHTC and Policy Cures will look at the return on investment in global health R&D for the US government to help build a strong case for this continued role. I am looking forward to having both of these in hand for our advocacy work with a new Congress and new administration in 2017 and beyond. These reports and other evidence from members must continue to inform our advocacy work. In a challenging fiscal environment in which new money is hard to come by, we must make a strong case for our work. Global health R&D is a smart investment, it saves lives, and it can reduce health costs. These are the arguments we will continue to make. I am very proud of what we have accomplished over the last two years. Thank you to everyone who has supported me and GHTC’s mission. I look forward to continuing the fight and working to save and improve lives around the world!

Reducing unnecessary antibiotic use is widely considered a priority action in combating the spread of antimicrobial resistance. In the United States, one-third of antibiotic prescriptions are unnecessary and each year, there are 27 million gratuitous prescriptions for respiratory infections alone. Rapid, point-of-care diagnostics that can discern if an infection is bacterial could significantly reduce this practice, preventing antibiotic prescriptions for viral, parasitic, or fungal infections. There are now several tests in the pipeline which evaluate the level of C-reactive protein (CRP) in the bloodstream, a molecule associated with inflammation. CRP levels increase significantly in response to bacterial infections, but only slightly in response to viral infections. Not only have several of these tests proven reliable, but new research conducted by the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Vietnam indicates that such a test can successfully decrease antibiotic prescriptions for respiratory infections in low-resource settings. The study monitored antibiotic use for 2,000 patients at ten primary health centers, and use of the test reduced prescriptions from 78 to 64 percent, without impacting clinical recovery or patient satisfaction rates. Scientists have identified a compound that shows promise in treating three different parasitic diseases—Chagas disease, sleeping sickness, and leishmaniasis—that effect 20 million people and result in 50,000 deaths each year. The three diseases are caused by distinct parasites and transmitted by different vectors. Chagas disease results in cardiac complications, sleeping sickness causes neurological symptoms, and leishmaniasis manifests as skin sores and liver and/or spleen damage. Existing treatments are toxic, expensive, and difficult to administer in low-resource settings. The compound—GNF6702—was developed by pharmaceutical company Novartis and discovered after screening 3 million molecules in the company’s compound library. The molecule was then modified, resulting in a drug with 20 times the original potency. The compound targets proteasome—which breaks down waste—in all three parasites, but does not have the same effect in mammal cells. The drug has proven effective in mice, and will undergo additional safety tests before the initiation of human clinical trials.  The US Agency for International Development (USAID) announced last week the initial winners of its Combating Zika and Future Threats Grand Challenge, through which the agency will be providing more than US$15 million for the development and introduction of 21 innovative tools and interventions. In just two months, USAID received and reviewed nearly 900 applications, addressing various parts of outbreak prevention, detection, and control, including vector control, personal and household protection, vector and disease surveillance, community engagement, and diagnostic innovations. The winners include an electric force field to repel mosquitoes; a flip phone–based app that can distinguish between mosquito species, enabling crowdsourced vector surveillance; insecticide-treated sandals; and a human-scented mosquito trap. The agency will announce additional winners in the next month and will invest up to $30 million total.