In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. The European Parliament approved the European Union’s participation in the second round of the European & Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP). EDCTP’s activities will include promoting and supporting multicenter projects that combine clinical trials, capacity building, and networking; capacity development for clinical trials and clinical research in sub-Saharan countries; and closer collaboration with industry, other product development partners, and funding or development agencies. According to an opinion piece in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, some scientists warn that US biomedical research is on an unsustainable path and needs reform. The scientists suggest that the system may be producing too many new researchers and forcing them to compete for a stagnating pool of funding. GHTC member the Global Health Innovation and Technology (GHIT) Fund was recently interviewed by Devex. In the interview, GHIT Fund executive director, B.T. Slingsby, spoke about what support is needed for research and development to continue the fight against malaria and tuberculosis, and how public-private partnerships can help put these overlooked diseases back on the map. A team of researchers at the Indian Institute of Science have been experimenting with a novel vaccine candidate against malaria and have found promising results in mice. The vaccine candidate has been proven to be 80 to 85 percent efficacious in the animals recently vaccinated.

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has formally launched its Global Development Lab—an initiative that hopes to bring greater innovation to ending extreme poverty. At an event in New York City, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and USAID Administrator Raj Shah officially launched the Lab, which will focus on six thematic areas: food security and nutrition, maternal and child survival, energy access, sustainable water solutions, child literacy, and “connected technologies.” According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, official development assistance grew by 6.1 percent worldwide in 2013 to $134.8 billion. Foreign aid for development in low- and middle-income countries hit record highs, especially in countries like the United Kingdom, Iceland, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said this week that health is a “great global connector” and that ignoring diseases in other nations will punish people everywhere. She added that nations not only have practical and economic reasons to fight diseases in other countries, but that they have a humanitarian reason as well. On World Health Day this week, the United Nations (UN) urged the international community to support a global health agenda that gives higher priority to fighting vector-borne diseases. Vector-borne diseases—like malaria, dengue, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, Chagas disease, and leishmaniasis—“cause chronic illness and immense suffering for hundreds of millions [of people],” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. During a meeting last week at the United Kingdom’s Royal Society of Medicine, the topic of health research was raised and how it might fit into the post-2015 development agenda. At the meeting, UK Department for International Development Chief Scientific Officer Chris Whitty spoke about the necessity of forward thinking as it relates to global health research. Whitty acknowledged the need to think ahead to what research will be needed from 2020-2040 so that priorities are defined by what the global public health world might look like in the future. Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline plans to invest up to £130 million in Africa over the next five years to build the continent’s capacity to develop new tools to combat the region’s rising occurrence of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). New money will go to expanding manufacturing capacity in specific African countries, as well as open the world’s first open-access research and development laboratory for NCDs in Africa. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank, and other donors will invest $240 million to fight neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in low- and middle-income countries. The new funding comes after a pledge by 13 drugmakers two years ago to donate medicines to treat ten NTDs, including river blindness, Guinea worm, and sleeping sickness. Dr. Deborah Birx has been confirmed by the Senate to be the next Global AIDS Coordinator, filling the post to lead the world’s largest health program. Widely praised by global health advocates, Dr. Birx previously led efforts to introduce the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief-sponsored rollout of life-saving HIV treatments to certain sites in Africa, and launched the first clinical research trials to show proof of concept that an HIV-preventing vaccine was possible.

“I deeply believe in the importance, power, and influence of research,” said Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) at GHTC’s congressional briefing. He added, “We all need to ensure that basic science eventually translates into saving lives.” The briefing—GHTC’s fifth annual where we launched our 2014 policy report—brought together leading voices from the nonprofit, philanthropic, public, and private sectors to reinforce the importance of robust support for global health research and development (R&D). For generations, the US government has invested in the lifesaving potential of research and innovation, supporting discoveries that have improved public health around the world. These investments have led to breakthroughs in global health and contributed to the development of remarkable vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, devices, insecticides, and other health technologies. Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) giving remarks at GHTC's annual briefing Moderator Steve Davis, president and CEO of PATH, opened the briefing by reminding attendees what’s really at stake if the US government does not continue to be a leader in global health R&D: “The United States now stands at a critical juncture. Although the recent budget agreement prevents a second round of sequestration cuts, stabilizing global health R&D will require Congress to preserve funding for global health R&D, and US agencies must protect global health research and programming within their own budgets.” He added, “Halting funding would mean that the world may never benefit from the tools that are so close to development and delivery.” Many US government agencies play a vital role in global health research and product development, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Specifically, USAID has announced several promising developments in global health innovation over the past year. In addition to releasing a report to Congress on its activities in global health R&D, the agency continues to support the critical work of the Center for Accelerating Innovation and Impact at USAID. Panelist Wendy Taylor, director of the Center for Accelerating Innovation and Impact, mentioned at the briefing that USAID is currently involved in about 100 of the technologies currently in the global health pipeline. “Science, technology, and innovation are driving progress in global health,” said Taylor. She added, “Innovation bends the curve of history and makes the impossible, possible.” Critical to the work of the Center for Accelerating Innovation and Impact, as well as global health R&D broadly, are public-private partnerships. The private sector plays an important role in providing expertise and know-how to develop new technologies. Adrian Thomas—vice president of Global Market Access, Commercial Strategy, and Global Public Health at Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.—reinforced the importance of multi-sector engagement: “We have to have the right partnerships and programs…the right incentives in play” to develop tools for low-resource settings. Thomas explained to the audience that incentives are key to getting private-sector engagement. “Without co-financing from donors like the US government, the risk to develop some products would be too high,” Thomas explained at the briefing. Many of the public-private partnerships involved in global health product development are also funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. While the importance of the Gates Foundation is unquestionable, they fully admit that they cannot be the only funder involved in the development of new technologies for low- and middle-income countries. “The US government is the world’s largest and most important funder in global health R&D,” said Dan Hartman, director of Integrated Development at the Gates Foundation. Hartman continued to explain that without steady funding from the US government, we risk losing the progress we’ve made in research over the last decade. Each of the panelists during this year’s briefing gave very compelling arguments to Congress and the Administration why we need continued and increased support for global health R&D. Yet none were more compelling than Winfred Amoako, a tuberculosis (TB) survivor originally from Ghana. Shortly after moving to the United States in 2010, Amoako was diagnosed with TB. When asked what he would say to US policymakers if given the chance, he said: “I would say…please continue the fight. Continue to be the leader in research so that someday we can eliminate TB and these diseases.” That important message reminds us about the lives that are affected by neglected diseases and global health challenges. As Steve Davis said in his concluding remarks, “We are at the brink of a remarkable time in global health…we can and we must do more.” The stakes have never been higher, which is why the US government must continue its leadership role in supporting global health research and innovation so that essential technologies reach all of the patients who need them.

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. More detailed information about the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2015 budget requests to Congress was released this week, resulting in a mixed bag for global health research and development. The Congressional Budget Justifications—annual presentations to Congress to justify requests for funding—help shed more light on the administration’s priorities for FY 2015. The results of a Phase III clinical trial for a rotavirus vaccine were released this week and published in The Lancet. The vaccine candidate—which was tested in India—was found to be safe and have modest efficacy of 53.6 percent against severe rotavirus gastroenteritis. New data shows that the number of principle investigators with National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding dropped significantly last year—between 500 and 1000 researchers. While NIH funding has been on the decline over the last several years, the most significant drop in researchers was due to last year’s sequestration. GHTC member Seattle BioMed has a received a $9.8 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop two new vaccines against HIV and AIDS. Seattle BioMed will lead a consortium of academic institutions working together on the project, including Rockefeller University, the University of Washington, Seattle Children’s Hospital, and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. This week, the White House released President Obama’s much-anticipated budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2015. The budget request has mixed results for federal agencies that conduct global health research—including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense, the US Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Pharmaceutical company Janssen announced that SIRTURO® (bedaquiline)—a new drug for the treatment of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (TB)—has been granted conditional approval by the European Commission. The drug was approved for use as part of an appropriate combination regimen for pulmonary multi-drug resistant TB in adult patients. USAID has released its 2013 report to Congress—Health-Related Research and Development Progress Report. The report provides an update on the agency’s global health research and development (R&D) portfolio, specifically highlighting certain technologies and disease areas. The Kaiser Family Foundation has pulled together several news sources reports on research findings presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections taking place in Boston this week.