In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week.
This week, pharmaceutical company Sanofi announced that its experimental vaccine against dengue fever has successfully completed its first late-stage clinical trial. The vaccine was proven to reduce the incidence of dengue fever by 56 percent in trial participants in Southeast Asia.
Trevor Mundel—president of Global Health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—wrote this week in Impatient Optimists about the tremendous progress being made in global health research and development (R&D). At this year’s Product Development Forum in Seattle, more than 500 participants gathered together to talk about what is needed to accelerate the development and delivery of high-impact health innovations to those who need them most.
Last week, several hundred people came together to celebrate significant achievements in vaccinology over the past two decades and to examine solutions for overcoming remaining hurdles at the Sabin Vaccine Institute’s 20th Anniversary Scientific Symposium. Hosted at the Pan American Health Organization in Washington, DC, it was an energized room filled with visionary leaders from humanitarian and health organizations, nongovernmental organizations, pharmaceutical companies, and academia.
Johnson & Johnson has announced its affiliate Janssen Pharmaceuticals has entered into a partnership with the Stop TB Partnership to facilitate access to its tuberculosis treatments. This public-private partnership was established by the newly formed Janssen Global Public Health group.