Research Roundup: What we’re reading this week

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week.

The European Medicines Agency has approved the first vaccine against meningitis B, manufactured by Novartis, for use in individuals from two months of age and older.

The Institute of Medicine has released a new discussion paper that examines issues related to global health research and development (R&D) coordination, financing, and prioritization. The paper was written in response to recommendations offered by a World Health Organization group on R&D financing and coordination.

Investments by the US government and pharmaceutical companies are leading to new-and-improved vaccines. Scientific advances in the next decade, for instance, could lead to a "universal" flu vaccine given every five to 10 years that would fight many strains of a virus, making annual shots obsolete.

Disease burden has an enormous impact on a country’s economic situation, halving household incomes in some highly endemic countries, according to a new study. The study authors write that their findings have direct policy implications.

A new opinion piece argues that US investments in foreign aid should not become a casualty of the “fiscal cliff.”