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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, IAVI and Moderna announced that the first doses have been administered in a clinical trial of experimental HIV vaccine antigens delivered through mRNA technology. The phase 1 clinical trial, IAVI G002, is testing the hypothesis that administration of priming and boosting HIV immunogens delivered via mRNA technology can induce specific classes of B-cell responses and guide their early maturation toward broadly neutralizing antibody (bnAb) development. Inducing bnAbs via B-cells is widely acknowledged as a goal of HIV vaccination. The immunogens being tested were developed by scientific teams at IAVI and Scripps Research and will be delivered with Moderna’s mRNA technology.Global funding for poverty-related and neglected diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, remained virtually unchanged in 2020 at US$3.937 billion, according to the 14th annual G-FINDER report released by Policy Cures Research. The report—a comprehensive analysis of global investment of research and development for poverty-related and neglected diseases—showed a small decrease of $172 million, or 4 percent, in funding from 2019 to 2020, yet 2020 was still the third highest funding level for neglected diseases ever captured by G-FINDER data. The report identified other trends and insights, including the continued stagnation of funding for neglected tropical diseases, an increase in philanthropic funding and investment in platform technologies, and disruptions in clinical trials due to the COVID-19 pandemic.The cancer drug pembrolizumab can flush HIV out of its hiding spot in immune cells, which could help eliminate the virus in its latent stage, according to a new study published Wednesday. Currently, antiretroviral therapy—the standard treatment for HIV—can remove any trace of the virus from the blood, but a hidden reservoir of HIV persists in patients who are in treatment, meaning patients are never truly cured and must be on HIV drugs for the rest of their lives. The new study examined 32 patients that had both cancer and HIV and found that pembrolizumab, which revives the immune system and encourages it to attack tumors, also helps the immune system locate the last traces of HIV and disrupts the virus’ ability to hide. While these findings present an early proof of concept, researchers plan to continue additional studies to assess the drug’s impact at different dosing levels in HIV-positive patients without cancer.

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.The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) has signed agreements with 27 generic manufacturing companies to produce and supply the oral COVID-19 antiviral molnupiravir for 105 low- and middle-income countries. The sublicense agreements follow a voluntary licensing agreement signed by MPP and Merck, Sharp & Dohme—which developed the drug—in October to facilitate global access of the COVID-19 treatment. The nonexclusive licenses allow generic manufacturers to produce the raw ingredients and finished drug itself: five companies will focus on producing the raw ingredients, thirteen companies will produce both raw ingredients and the finished drug, and nine companies will produce only the finished drug. Molnupiravir has not yet been approved by the World Health Organization (WHO), a step often regarded as a precursor to the negotiation of manufacturing licenses by a United Nations-supported group like MPP.Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a significant threat to humanity, as it has become a leading cause of death worldwide killing about 3,500 people every day, according to a new study published in The Lancet last week. More than 1.2 million people—and potentially millions more—died in 2019 as a direct result of antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections. The analysis, which covered more than 200 countries and territories, is the most comprehensive estimate to date of the global impact of AMR, which has caused common infections to become untreatable. The report highlights an urgent need to scale up action to combat AMR and outlines immediate actions policymakers can take to help save lives and protect health systems, including optimizing the use of existing antibiotics, taking greater action to monitor and control infections, and providing more funding to develop new antibiotics and treatments.The COVAX vaccine-sharing facility has delivered 1 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses, across 144 countries, as of last weekend. The program, which was initiated in 2020 with the goal of delivering 2 billion doses by the end of 2021, began delivering vaccines in February 2021 but hit several setbacks throughout the year, including vaccine hoarding by high-income countries and export restrictions which limited vaccine supply. Shipments increased exponentially in the last quarter of 2021, but vaccine inequity remains high, according to the latest WHO data showing 67 percent of the population in richer nations have been fully vaccinated, compared with only 5 percent in poorer nations. More than 40 percent of the world's population has yet to receive a first dose. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, has launched a renewed call for COVAX funding to help reach WHO's goal of vaccinating 70 percent of the populations in poorer countries by July.

The following statement focuses on the 150th World Health Organization Executive Board meeting agenda item 11: “Immunization Agenda 2030.”Many recent scientific and multilateral agency reports and publications suggest that overall, immunization took a step backward in the past two years. Despite the tireless efforts of countless immunization program staff and health workers to ensure the availability of vaccination services, vaccination coverage globally fell for the first time in a decade. The COVID-19 pandemic has overwhelmed immunization infrastructure and workforce, impacted the global supply chain, increased the incidence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and derailed gains made in immunization campaigns around the world. Immunization is a pillar of people-centered primary health care, and we urge the World Health Organization (WHO) and member states to strengthen vaccine-related research and innovation with the most vulnerable populations in mind. GHTC calls on WHO and member states to: Accelerate and expand the COVAX facility research and development agenda to advance next-generation COVID-19 vaccines, including “variant-proof” COVID-19 vaccines and shots that could provide wide protection against coronaviruses, vaccines with optimized dosing, and vaccines more suitable for delivery in low-resource settings. World leaders must also do everything in their power to correct the shameful lack of equitable access to these lifesaving tools. Focus on the full spectrum of innovations that support immunization programs. The near term will inevitably be dominated by a continuing focus on COVID-19 vaccine rollouts. Nevertheless, it is vital that these activities are also leveraged to strengthen vaccine manufacturing capacities, storage, administration, and co-administration with other health interventions as well as novel service delivery, including focused “test & vaccinate” strategies as recently recommended by the Gavi board.Align immunization efforts with those to combat AMR. As highlighted by the recent research study published in The Lancet, drug-resistant bacteria kill 1.27 million people a year, the great majority of them in low- and middle-income countries. Children under 5 are particularly vulnerable. These shocking numbers require dramatic commitment against AMR, well above what has been funded thus far. Development of new vaccines could substantially reduce the burden of disease, especially for children under 5 in low-income settings. Support implementation research and the development of formal feedback loops to monitor follow-up of recommendations made by groups such as the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization and regional immunization technical advisory groups.