News

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 World Health Organization (WHO) panel on Thursday recommended the use of two additional drugs, baricitinib and sotrovimab, for COVID-19 patients. Baricitinib, developed by Eli Lilly and sold under the brand name Olumiant, was recommended in combination with corticosteroids for patients with severe COVID-19. WHO experts cited evidence indicating that baricitinib—an oral drug also used to treat rheumatoid arthritis—improves survival rate and reduces the need for ventilation, with no observed increase in adverse effects. Sotrovimab, a monoclonal antibody therapy developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Vir Biotechnology, was conditionally endorsed for non-severe patients at the highest risk of hospitalization. Studies on the effectiveness of monoclonal antibodies against the omicron variant are ongoing, though the GSK-Vir treatment has been shown to retain its activity in initial lab tests.An mRNA-based HIV vaccine candidate developed at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) showed promise in preclinical studies, new research shows. The experimental vaccine works by delivering instructions for making two key HIV proteins, which are then assembled into virus-like particles that induce immune responses similar to natural HIV infection. NIAID tested the vaccine in mice and rhesus macaques, results of which showed the injections were well-tolerated and elicited immune responses against an HIV-like virus. The research team plans to conduct a phase 1 trial of the novel mRNA HIV vaccine in healthy adult volunteers after further refinement and testing.Researchers at UCLA have made progress in efforts to develop a cure for HIV by targeting infected cells that could be lying dormant in the body, according to a study published in Nature Communications last week. In the new study, researchers built upon a method originally developed in 2017 to kill hidden HIV-infected cells using cells that are naturally produced by the body’s immune system. The study used the “kick and kill” strategy, with researchers first administering a compound to flush out hidden HIV-infected cells, then injecting natural killer cells into a mice’s bloodstream. This cleared HIV completely in 40 percent of infected mice, showing proof of concept for a therapeutic approach to potentially eliminate HIV from the body. Researchers say they now hope to develop an approach that eliminates HIV in 100 percent of tested mice via further experiments and move toward preclinical studies.

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.Novavax has completed submission of the final data package for its COVID-19 vaccine to fulfill the prerequisites for an emergency use authorization (EUA) request from the US Food and Drug Administration. The company plans to complete an official EUA application by the end of the month. The vaccine, NVX-CoV2373, received emergency use listing from the World Health Organization last month for its formulations manufactured in Europe and India, allowing Novavax and partner Serum Institute of India to ship doses to the COVAX initiative, which aims to supply vaccines to low- and middle-income countries. NVX-CoV2373 was also granted conditional marketing authorization in December by the European Medicines Agency to be produced in Europe. Novavax expects its global supply chain to exceed 2 billion doses in 2022.A new COVID-19 vaccine developed by researchers from the Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine is being offered patent-free to vaccine manufacturers around the world. The CORBEVAX vaccine—originally developed to combat SARS, which is caused by a strain of coronavirus—employs a long-established protein subunit technology that uses proteins from a virus or bacterium to induce an immune response but not cause disease. Clinical trials conducted in India found the vaccine to be 90 percent effective in preventing disease caused by the original COVID-19 virus strain and 80 percent effective against the delta variant, leading India’s regulatory agency to grant emergency use authorization in December. Indian vaccine manufacturer Biological E Limited has sold 300 million doses to the Indian government and plans to produce 100 million doses per month.Dolutegravir-based antiretroviral therapy (ART) is more effective than standard treatments for HIV-positive children, reducing treatment failure by 40 percent, according to a new study published in The New England Journal of Medicine. The clinical trial, conducted at 29 clinical centers across Africa, Europe, and Asia, evaluated the safety and efficacy of dolutegravir-based ART as a first- or second-line treatment in children living with HIV in comparison to non-dolutegravir-based, standard-care ART. Results showed the dolutegravir-based ART reduced treatment failure by 40 percent in HIV-positive children 3 to 18 years old, indicating dolutegravir-based ART is superior to current standard-care treatment in children and adolescents living with HIV, according to researchers.