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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. An experimental oral antiviral drug showed promise as a potential treatment for COVID-19 after demonstrating an ability to prevent the virus from replicating, according to study results from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The drug, TEMPOL, was tested in an experiment of cell cultures with live viruses and was able to impair an enzyme the virus needs to make copies of itself inside human cells, which could limit the severity of the disease. An oral drug to prevent virus replication would be an important tool, as additional effective and accessible COVID-19 treatments are still needed, according to the NIH statement. NIH researchers said they plan to conduct additional preliminary studies and will seek opportunities to evaluate the drug in a clinical study.The World Health Organization (WHO) approved the Sinovac-CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use on Tuesday after evaluating its safety, efficacy, and quality. Other COVID-19 vaccines that have been authorized by WHO include those developed by Sinopharm, Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and AstraZeneca. The emergency use paves the way for countries around the world to approve and import the vaccine for distribution quickly, according to the WHO press release, in addition to being a prerequisite for use by the COVAX global vaccine-sharing facility. WHO also noted that the easy storage requirements of the vaccine make it suitable for use in low-resource settings.The COVAX advance market commitment (AMC) initiative raised US$2.4 billion to fund COVID-19 vaccines for low- and middle-income countries, in addition to 54 million vaccine donations, during a COVAX AMC virtual summit on Wednesday. This brings the total pledged to the COVAX AMC to $9.6 billion. The summit, hosted by the government of Japan and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, brought in donations from nearly 40 governments, the private sector, and foundations that will be used to secure 1.8 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines for AMC-participating countries. The vaccines will be delivered in 2021 and early 2022 and will cover close to 30 percent of the adult population against COVID-19 in the 91 participating countries. 

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, UNICEF signed an agreement with Human Vaccine, a subsidiary of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, for supply of up to 220 million doses of the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine. Procurement of the doses will be contingent on the vaccine receiving emergency use listing from the World Health Organization (WHO) and an advance purchase agreement with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, for the COVAX vaccine-sharing facility. The organizations leading COVAX also made an announcement last week renewing the call for funding and vaccine sharing, urging countries to share at least 1 billion doses in 2021. COVAX has so far delivered more than 70 million doses to 126 countries and economies since February, but it will face a shortfall of 190 million doses by the end of June, according to the statement.The US Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday authorized a new monoclonal antibody therapy for patients ages 12 and older with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who are at high risk for infection. Sotrovimab, developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Vir Biotechnology, reduced risk of hospitalization or death due to COVID-19 by 85 percent in a study of 583 volunteers who had begun experiencing symptoms within the previous five days. It was also shown in laboratory tests to be able to neutralize the virus variants first identified in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Brazil, California, New York, and India. The US government has not announced plans to purchase the drug, but the companies expect the drug to become available in the United States in the coming weeks, according to the GSK news release.Two COVID-19 vaccines made by Sinopharm appear safe and effective, according to results published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The report indicated that the two vaccines, one developed by the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products and the other by the Beijing Institute of Biological Products, are 73 and 78 percent effective, based on a trial involving approximately 40,380 participants. Follow-up data is continuing to be collected at additional study sites in Egypt and Jordan. The numbers are consistent with results Sinopharm had previously reported in interim analyses. WHO cleared the Beijing Institute of Biological Products’ vaccine for emergency use in early May, and both vaccines have already been distributed and administered globally.