Breakthroughs Blog: Vaccines

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. A new study found that LC16m8, an attenuated vaccinia virus strain originally developed in Japan for smallpox and later approved for mpox in 2022, induced strong responses and was safe in mice, monkeys, and healthy adult humans, potentially paving the way for the development of broadly effective mpox vaccines. The researchers vaccinated mice with LC16m8 to see how it protected them from mpox, later vaccinating monkeys and healthy adult volunteers as well to study their blood samples for immune responses and monitor them for safety. The results underscore LC16m8’s potential as a safe, effective, and scalable choice for mpox vaccination and also provide a blueprint for developing next-generation vaccines against other poxviruses and emerging pathogens.Researchers from Abertay University and Bangor University have developed a prototype blood test that can detect up to five infections at the point of care, providing results quickly via a smartphone app. The tool, which was piloted using tuberculosis as a test case, showed high sensitivity and an ability to accurately identify cases. The speed and convenience, as well as the much lower cost compared to lab testing, demonstrate the test’s potential to be a game changer in ensuring access to timely testing and diagnosis, particularly in remote locations and other settings lacking laboratory infrastructure.  The results of a Phase 3 clinical trial published last week found that Moderna’s combination COVID and flu shot outperformed existing individual vaccines for both viruses. The combination shot uses the same mRNA technology as Moderna’s approved vaccine for COVID-19, but there are no currently approved mRNA flu vaccines. In a trial that included more than 8,000 adults, the combination vaccines generated higher antibody levels for COVID and all but one influenza strain in trial participants who got the combination vaccine compared to those who got individual vaccines. A combination vaccine could help boost vaccination levels for both viruses, and an mRNA vaccine, in particular, could also speed up production because they are faster to make than current flu shots.

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 US Department of Health and Human Services announced a $500 million investment into a vaccine project under a new initiative called Generation Gold Standard, which aims to advance universal influenza vaccines, hoping to get a vaccine into clinical trials next year and approved by 2029. The initiative, funding for which will come from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, seems to be replacing Project NextGen, which had previously funded research into potential COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. Some experts and officials have expressed surprise at the direction of the initiative and the size of the investment.Scientists have discovered that a device used to diagnose bacterial meningitis in blood can also measure it in cerebrospinal fluid, helping speed accurate diagnosis and treatment of the illness, which is the most dangerous form of meningitis and a significant global health threat. The device has demonstrated high sensitivity in multiple cohorts of patients and it’s also affordable and delivers results within a half hour after spinal tap. The test was developed at an impressive speed, now available to patients within just a year of its discovery.Newly shared results from a clinical trial from the National Cancer Institute seem to confirm that a single dose of the vaccine used to prevent human papillomavirus (HPV) virus infection is just as effective as two, a finding that could transform efforts to reach the millions of children globally who are not getting vaccinated according to recommendations. Expanding HPV vaccination will also help reduce the global burden of cervical cancer deaths and deaths from other HPV cancers. While two doses are currently recommended, reducing the required dosage could make dissemination much easier and cheaper for many countries.

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. A new study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases ahead of World Malaria Day last week found that adding a low dose of the widely available antimalarial drug primaquine to artemisinin-based combination therapy is safe and effective at blocking Plasmodium falciparum malaria transmission in young children in areas of low- and moderate-to-high transmission. The new study fills a gap in knowledge of the safety and efficacy of this approach for young children, who face the highest burden of clinical malaria and are particularly at risk of artemisinin-resistant strains but could face adverse complications from adult formulations of primaquine. The findings highlight the need for child-friendly formulations of primaquine and support the expanded use of the drug in regions with a moderate-to-high transmission rate and the threat of artemisinin partial resistance.The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, the National Health Service University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, and the University of Liverpool have initiated a clinical trial in Liverpool, United Kingdom to test an oral drug for visceral leishmaniasis, one of the world’s deadliest parasitic diseases. Current treatments for visceral leishmaniasis, which is almost always fatal if left untreated, include daily injections for up to 17 days, which can cause immediate pain, as well as nausea, vomiting, and more serious complications. The new oral drug, DNDI-6899, is easier to store, transport, and administer than current treatments. If proven successful, the drug could help make treatment more accessible to those who need it most.DioSynVax and ACM BioLabs have signed a new deal to jointly develop a next-generation avian flu vaccine with the potential for mucosal vaccine delivery, as the virus continues its worrying spread. The mRNA vaccine targets all major clades of the H5 avian flu subtype and could be scaled for rapid distribution globally in the case of a pandemic. The vaccine is also designed to be delivered via nasal spray, which could help increase uptake; to induce mucosal immunity, which helps fight the pathogen before it starts circulating the body; and to be temperature stable, enabling rollout in lower-resource settings.

In 2001, I traveled to Ghana as a graduate student working on a US Agency for International Development-funded decentralization program. I arrived armed with materials on local governance best practices. But the mayors I met were focused on urgent public health issues: clean water, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. That trip, meant to be an early lesson in governance, became my first and most personal education in global health. It also nearly killed me. I was taking mefloquine weekly to prevent malaria. Toward the end of our stay, my partner and I set off to explore the country. Somewhere along the way, I developed what I believed to be giardia. That infection likely compromised the absorption of the mefloquine and left me dangerously vulnerable. One night in the village of Kokrobite, I woke with a high fever and chills so intense I could barely stand. A local man saw me and immediately recognized it as malaria. He arranged for a taxi to take me back to Accra. Before I left, he handed me a small, crumpled packet labeled in Chinese characters. Inside was a blister pack of pills. The only word written in English on the package was artesunate. He told me it would help, and, in that moment, sick, scared, and weak, I took it. At the hospital, a blood smear confirmed that I had cerebral malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest strain. Cerebral malaria can cause brain swelling, coma, and death. I drifted in and out of consciousness for days. At one point, hospital staff told my partner that there was nothing more they could do. I should “go home” and be “as comfortable as possible.”My partner worked relentlessly to get me on one of the next flights back to the United States. I was so sick that the airline nearly refused to let me board. Once we arrived home, I was seen right away by an infectious disease doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospital. After reviewing my labs and the herbal remedy package, he said plainly: this saved your life. The artesunate had bought me enough time to survive the journey and begin treatment. At the time, the World Health Organization had not yet formally endorsed artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) as the global standard for P. falciparum malaria. That came in 2006. But the effectiveness of artesunate alone was already well known in many parts of the world. That medicine saved my life.I missed several weeks of school but made a full recovery. Without that drug and the help of my partner (now my husband) and friends in Accra, I wouldn’t be here today. More than two decades have passed, and we've made tremendous progress. Insecticide-treated bed nets, rapid diagnostic tests, and ACTs have saved millions of lives. Two malaria vaccines, RTS,S and R21/Matrix-M, have been approved. Long-acting monoclonal antibodies are showing promise as seasonal protection for children. Newer insecticide-treated nets help counter resistance. And researchers are exploring RNA-based therapeutics and single-dose cures.Many of these breakthroughs are being developed by members of the Global Health Technologies Coalition, where I now serve as Executive Director. These tools represent our best chance not just to control malaria but to end it.But progress is not guaranteed. Cuts to foreign assistance and global health research and development are already slowing the progress of innovations in the pipeline. Some promising tools may be delayed or abandoned. That means more children at risk, more untreated infections, and more drug-resistant strains emerging. The parasite has evolved before. It will do so again if we let it. And malaria is no longer a disease that happens mostly outside of the United States. In the past two years, locally acquired cases have been reported in Florida, Texas, and Maryland. Climate change, global travel, and changing mosquito habitats are making malaria a threat we can no longer treat as distant. I know how thin the line is between surviving this disease and not. For me, it’s not abstract. It’s the memory of a fevered body, the generosity of strangers, and a medicine in the right place at the right time. This World Malaria Day, I urge leaders and policymakers to stay the course. The science is moving forward. But science alone isn’t enough. If we don’t finish what we’ve started, we risk letting malaria surge back and take more lives with it. Science has given us the tools. The question now is whether we will act in time or let the disease outpace us once again.