Breakthroughs Blog: Antimicrobial resistance

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. On Friday, the World Health Organization (WHO) released its updated Bacterial Priority Pathogens List 2024, which aims to guide investments and R&D in new antibiotics and promote international coordination to address the rising global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The updated list, which incorporates new evidence and expert insights, includes 15 families of antibiotic-resistant bacteria grouped into critical, high, and medium categories for prioritization based on their burden and ability to resist treatment and spread resistance to other bacteria. Five pathogen-antibiotic combinations were removed from the new list and four new combinations were added, reflecting the dynamic nature of AMR.Last week, WHO authorized a second vaccine for dengue, which will hopefully offer millions more worldwide protection against the mosquito-borne disease, which is currently behind a major outbreak in the Americas and rising cases globally. The two-dose vaccine, made by Takeda, protects against the four types of dengue and is recommended for use in children between six and sixteen years old in regions with high dengue rates. The decision opens the door for donors and other United Nations agencies to purchase the vaccine for high-burden countries.Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the use of self-collected samples with Roche and BD’s HPV tests, a decision that hopefully will expand access and reduce barriers to HPV screening, allowing more people to detect and treat cervical cancer. Screening for HPV is used to identify those who may be at risk of developing cervical cancer, most cases of which are caused by persistent HPV infection. Traditional screening involves a speculum-involved pelvic exam to screen for cervical cancer, which can be painful or uncomfortable for many patients. Self-collection allows patients to collect their own vaginal samples for screening in a health care setting.

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 Combating Antibiotic Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) last week announced that it will award up to $1 million to the company Scout to develop a rapid, inexpensive, and easy-to-use point-of-care diagnostic test for gonorrhea, which could expand access to testing and proper treatment in the face of a rise in gonorrhea cases and drug-resistant gonorrhea cases globally, especially in low- and middle-income countries. The test, STI-Scout, is designed to detect and differentiate between Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomitis and can provide results in only 30 minutes using urine samples or vaginal swabs at less than half the cost of other available tests. The test uses a proven isothermal technology that was validated for SARS-CoV-2 detection. Last week, EuBiologics and the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) announced that the World Health Organization (WHO) had prequalified Euvichol-S, an improved oral cholera vaccine produced with a simplified method that will hopefully help to address the rise of cholera outbreaks globally and a dire vaccine supply shortage. The vaccine, whose development was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is produced in a way that can improve formulation and manufacturing productivity by 40 percent compared to the company’s prior oral cholera vaccine and demonstrated efficacy in a Phase 3 trial in Nepal last year. The prequalification paves the way for United Nations agencies and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to buy the vaccine for countries experiencing outbreaks.The New Nets Project, funded by Unitaid and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, recently reported results from several pilot studies showing that a pair of second-generation bed nets tested in malaria-endemic areas helped to prevent up to 13 million additional cases of malaria, saving close to 25,000 lives—exciting news that comes as malaria cases, as well as resistance to the standard insecticide used to treat nets, rise globally. The studies found that the new nets, the Interceptor G2 and Royal Guard—which both use dual insecticides to address resistance—were between 20 and 50 percent more effective than traditional nets, which only use pyrethroid insecticide, in reducing mosquito exposure and reduced the risk of infection by up to 55 percent. Although the new nets are more expensive, the additional cost seems to be offset by the public health savings of malaria prevention. Researchers expect malaria parasites to eventually become resistant to the new nets, highlighting the need for continued research into other methods of vector control, as well as ensuring population-scale protection through vaccination.

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 Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) last week announced $467,000 in funding to GlyProVac to develop a maternal vaccine that targets Escherichia coli, the bacteria mainly responsible for neonatal sepsis, which is the leading cause of death among infants and a particular challenge in low- and middle-income countries. The funding will specifically support the development of the vaccine candidate GPV02, which offers protection to newborns through the antibodies passed on by vaccinated expectant mothers in utero and through breast milk after birth. GPV02 uses a unique approach compared to other attempted protein-based bacterial vaccines because it involves previously undiscovered natural sugar modifications and uses BEMAP technology to allow the vaccine to imitate E. coli, preparing the immune system to recognize the bacterium in the case of future infection.Last week, the Advisory Group on Immunization Practices at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended Valneva’s Ixchiq chikungunya vaccine for some travelers and laboratory researchers at risk of contracting the mosquito-borne virus. The United States records about 100 to 200 chikungunya cases a year in people infected abroad by the virus, which is mainly found in parts of Central and South America, Africa, and Asia. The vaccine was licensed by the Food and Drug Administration last fall for adults—the first vaccine approved for chikungunya. CDC has indicated that it may later expand the recommendation for people living in US territories where the virus may spread.A new extensive, long-term analysis from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai found that COVID-19 vaccines induce long-lasting antibody responses, debunking previous claims that mRNA-based vaccine immunity wanes quickly. The researchers examined in over 8,000 samples collected over three years in New York City how antibody responses changed after infections, during the first series of vaccinations, during booster vaccinations, and during breakthrough infections. They concluded that the major reason for breakthrough infections is the virus evolving to evade immunity rather than waning immunity. The results will, hopefully, not only encourage people to continue to get vaccine boosters but also to continue research into new vaccines and viral variants.

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 Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) announced that it will give up to $14.9 million in funding for a new four-year project led by FIND to identify the most reliable tests to detect Lassa and Nipah virus infections, two zoonotic diseases that have, respectively, led to outbreaks in West Africa and South and Southeast Asia. The hope is the initiative will lead to the licensing and widespread availability of tests to help identify and contain future outbreaks early on, reducing cases and deaths of these serious diseases. This project will contribute to CEPI’s broader 100 Days Mission of rapidly developing tools against pandemic threats, as both diseases are among CEPI's priority pathogens.Researchers have developed a new synthetic antimicrobial compound, cresomycin, which can target many strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including multidrug-resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Many antibiotics work by binding to components of the bacteria that make proteins and disrupting them, but some bacteria have adapted resistance mechanisms to prevent this effect; cresomycin has improved binding ability. The researchers hope future studies will show that cresomycin and other compounds like it are safe for use in humans and effective against a variety of deadly resistant bacteria, paving the way for new solutions to stem the rising threat of antimicrobial resistance.A new study shows that Merck’s Ervebo Ebola vaccine was able to substantially lower the risk of people dying if they still developed the disease compared to those who were unvaccinated, even if they received the vaccine after they had already been infected. It is the first study to show that in addition to preventing infections, the vaccine can also save the lives of people who are already sick. The study, which looked at data from the 2018-2020 Ebola Zaire outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, found the fatality rate was halved among those vaccinated two or fewer days prior to illness compared to those who were unvaccinated. In addition to confirming the effectiveness of post-exposure use of Ervebo, the study also combated concerns that there might be interference between Ebola antibody treatments and the vaccine by showing that people who developed Ebola after being vaccinated were treated as effectively with antibody products as those who had not been vaccinated.