Breakthroughs Blog

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 study published last week found that an experimental influenza vaccine that uses messenger RNA (mRNA) technology protected against all known flu subtypes in animals. If found to be successful in humans, the universal vaccine, which would serve as a supplement to annual flu shots, could prepare the immune system to better respond to new flu viruses, reducing the likelihood of severe disease and death. These promising results come after years of efforts to develop a universal flu vaccine. While human trials are expected to begin soon, challenges including potential low tolerability of the mRNA vaccine will need to be addressed before the candidate can progress.A recently published study estimated that approximately 7.7 million people were killed by bacterial pathogens in 2019—the second leading cause of death globally that year. More than half of these deaths resulted from five pathogens: Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. While the highest mortality rates occurred in sub-Saharan Africa, disproportionately high burdens are present throughout low- and middle-income countries, which could be linked to inadequate access to effective antimicrobials (which exist for all the bacteria investigated in the study), among other structural challenges. Despite the high burden of deaths associated with bacterial pathogens, they receive much less funding and attention compared to other diseases. These data underline the need for greater investment into a variety of interventions and innovations, including vaccine candidates, that can address drug-resistant bacterial pathogens.A recent study determined that an antibody (DH1017.IgM) found in pregnant women who were infected with Zika but did not pass the virus to their fetuses can protect mice from the virus and suppress it to an undetectable state in their blood. The study, which began during the 2015 Brazilian Zika outbreak, could lead to the use of the antibody as a therapeutic agent and prophylactic to protect at-risk patients during an outbreak. The research team is working next to discover whether the antibody can prevent transmission from pregnant mice to their offspring and hoping to progress to human trials that include pregnant individuals who are often excluded from drug trials. Preclinical research into other vaccine candidates for Zika are also underway.

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, Moderna announced that its new booster shot targeted at the omicron subvariant of COVID-19 raises immune protection against subvariants by increasing levels of omicron-blocking antibodies up to 15 times pre-booster levels. Moderna also said that an early analysis showed that while the antibodies generated by the booster were less effective against the rapidly growing BQ.1.1 subvariant, they could still block it. This announcement follows similar positive findings that were released by Pfizer and BioNTech earlier this month about their own bivalent coronavirus vaccine booster. However, Novavax also recently released results showing that their bivalent booster did not show a stronger response than their original booster.Last week, an analysis done by researchers from TB Alliance, Stop TB Partnership, and the World Health Organization estimated that the BPaLM/BPaL treatment regimen for drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) could save governments up to US$740 million a year. Implementation of the all-oral, shorter regimen is estimated to be 40 to 90 percent less expensive than current drug regimens for DR-TB, when accounting for drug costs, healthcare costs, and patient-incurred costs. The cost savings from the new regimen coupled with the shorter time period and the fewer drugs that are easier to tolerate, BPaLM/BPaL could contribute to more people with DR-TB having access to treatment and improved treatment experiences.Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that WHO and the Ugandan government are planning to test three candidate Ebola vaccines in a clinical trial with the intent to help address the ongoing outbreak in the country. The first doses are expected to arrive this week, although it is unclear when exactly the trial will start. The vaccines being used in the trial include one produced by IAVI, one developed by the Sabin Vaccine Institute, and a final developed by the Jenner institute at the University of Oxford. While there have been questions about the usefulness of the trial if it concludes after the outbreak ends, the results of the trials could provide essential information that will help prevent future Sudan Ebolavirus outbreaks even if it concludes after the current outbreak. Additionally, the trial design will enable all participants to receive a vaccine (though some will receive it after a delay) as opposed to a standard randomized controlled trial in which one group gets a placebo.

The 2022 midterm elections on November 8 were expected to deliver a decisive power flip from Democrats to Republicans. However, as the new landscape comes into focus, it appears that Democrats will hold the Senate, and Republicans are likely to win the House of Representatives by a handful of seats. These margins and the composition of new committees will determine the trajectory of global health research and development policy over the next two years.Both chambers on a knife edge splitRepublicans underperformed most analysts’ projections in both chambers. In the House, they are expected to eke into power by only a handful of seats. In the Senate—where several Republican candidates failed to overtake their competitors in close races—Democrats have retained control and may even net gain one seat, depending on the outcome of a special runoff election in Georgia on Tuesday, December 6, between incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock (D) and Herschel Walker (R).Implications on makeup of key committeesNext steps for both parties include electing new party leaders, which is expected to happen later this year. Following that, early next year, the parties will designate committee assignments, which will impact oversight and policymaking for the next two years of global health research. In the House, committee majorities will be determined by who holds the majority in the full House. In the Senate, if the final split is 50-50, then committees will also be evenly split. But if Senator Raphael Warnock wins his reelection in Georgia, then the Senate will be 51-49, and Democrats will take the majority on each committee with one extra seat.Though we do not yet know exactly how the committees will look next year, we do know which members from the 117th Congress will return to the 118th and which current members will be stepping down.Leadership of most committees relevant to global health research and development (R&D) are expected to remain relatively stable with top Democrats and Republicans trading positions as chairs and ranking members. Some exceptions include Representative Karen Bass, chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations, who is stepping down in pursuit of becoming the next mayor of Los Angeles and Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY), ranking member of the House Appropriations State, Foreign Operations, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, who may become chair of the subcommittee or may be replaced by Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL).Among the members currently serving on the House Foreign Affairs Committee who have retained their Congressional seats are Reps. Susan Wild (D-PA), Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), Young Kim (R-CA), and Abigail Spanberger (D-VA). Members who were defeated include Reps. Tom Malinowski (D-NJ) and Steve Chabot (R-OH). Some other members of Congress on relevant appropriating and authorizing committees to global health research who are retiring or lost their primaries earlier this year include Reps. Albio Sires (D-NJ), David Price (D-NC), Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), Cheri Bustos (D-IL), Jaime Herrera-Beutler (R-WA) and Fred Upton (R-MI). In the Senate:There were no major losses among incumbents on the Foreign Relations Committee; Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee; or the Appropriations Labor, Health, nor on the Human Services, Education, and Related Programs (LHHS) and State and Foreign Operations subcommittees. Some big names will be retiring, including Sens. Richard Shelby (R-AL), ranking member on the Appropriations Committee; Roy Blunt (R-MO), ranking member on the LHHS Subcommittee; Richard Burr (R-NC), ranking member on the HELP Committee; and Rob Portman (R-OH).Some leadership changes are expected. Sen. Patty Murray, previous chair of the Senate HELP Committee, is expected to become the head of the Senate Appropriations Committee. The Senate HELP Committee will likely be led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) or Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA). The Senate LHHS subcommittee may be led by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). Both 2022 GHTC Innovating for Impact award winners, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) retained their seats.  A potentially challenging landscapeWith Democrats elected to retain control of the Senate in the 118th Congress, leadership in both parties of the current Congress may be more interested in passing an end-of-year funding package so that the 118th Congress can begin with a clean slate. The same may not be true next year, though. If Republicans have a slim majority in the House as projected, it could empower more conservative members to dangle threats to regular governance, such as annual passage of an appropriations package, as bargaining chips—a threat some members have already referenced. Such a dynamic may also lead to hardball negotiations over raising the debt ceiling, a final agreement on which is due in July of next year. Ultimately, these dynamics could limit the potential for global health R&D funding growth in the next two years, despite the need for greater resources. Beyond the funding picture, if Republicans win control the House, they plan to increase oversight over many US government agencies, including several public health and research agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Oversight over the executive branch is a critical function of Congress, but aggressive oversight can also threaten the basic functioning of these agencies as staff efforts are redirected. This could ultimately impact the pace of progress for global health research and science in general.Looking aheadGlobal health R&D has historically received bipartisan support, yet this will be the first Congress to be seated after the COVID-19 pandemic, a global health catastrophe that has provoked some policymakers to question the value of certain types of research and the global health status quo. The results of this election are still being finalized, but regardless of who is in charge, there will remain opportunities for crafting and passing good policy. Whether progress happens and at what pace will largely depend on the ability of advocates to make the bipartisan case for why global health R&D is a force multiplier for creating a healthier and safer future for Americans and all global citizens.