News

Newly shared results from a Phase 3 clinical trial found that a single-dose dengue vaccine was highly effective at preventing severe dengue, as the mosquito-borne disease continues to spread into new areas around the world. The vaccine, developed by the Butantan Institute in Brazil, was recently approved in Brazil for use in people aged 12 to 49 years old. The new trial found that among thousands of participants aged 2 to 59 years old, the vaccine was effective at preventing symptomatic dengue but especially effective—80.5 percent— at preventing hospitalization for at least five years. The World Health Organization (WHO) has shared new guidance highlighting critical targets for new antibiotics, as the global threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) continues to grow and outpace the development of new and innovative antimicrobials. The three areas outlined are the development of new drugs to fight Gram-negative bacteria that cause serious infections that are especially difficult to fight; new drugs for patients with serious infections that can no longer be treated with vancomycin, a powerful last-resort antibiotic; and new treatments for bacterial meningitis, which is getting harder to treat due to growing antibiotic resistance. While the research and development of a new antibiotics can be difficult, expensive, and not as profitable as other products, WHO aims to highlight key areas for investors and developers to focus their efforts to grow the pipeline of new, urgently needed tools. Last week, the Sabin Vaccine Institute announced that it has completed enrollment in six Phase 2 clinical trials for its Marburg and Sudan Ebolavirus vaccines in Kenya, Uganda, and the United States, as increasing outbreaks of both viruses in recent years have highlighted the urgent need for vaccines. There are currently no licensed vaccines for protection against the highly contagious, life-threatening diseases caused by these viruses. The Marburg vaccine has also been evaluated during recent outbreaks in Rwanda in Ethiopia. Both candidates have so far demonstrated strong safety and efficacy profiles. The Sabin Vaccine Institute has also begun planning larger Phase 3 trials for each of the vaccines. 

The Honorable Shelley Moore CapitoChairSubcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related AgenciesU.S. Senate Committee on AppropriationsWashington, D.C. 20510The Honorable Robert AderholtChairSubcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related AgenciesU.S. House Committee on AppropriationsWashington, D.C. 20515The Honorable Tammy BaldwinRanking MemberSubcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related AgenciesU.S. Senate Committee on AppropriationsWashington, D.C. 20510The Honorable Rosa DeLauroRanking MemberSubcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related AgenciesU.S. House Committee on AppropriationsWashington, D.C. 20515Dear Chairs Capito and Aderholdt and Ranking Members Baldwin and DeLauro,We, the 66 undersigned organizations representing public health, patients and biomedical researchers request at least $7.15 billion for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and at least $51.303 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) overall for fiscal year (FY) 2027, representing an 8.7% increase over FY2026 levels. This funding is critical to ensure that the nation can respond to current and future disease threats.NIAID has a unique mandate to better understand, treat and prevent infectious, immunologic and allergic diseases. The Institute plays an essential role in addressing the impacts of allergy and asthma on human well-being and infectious threats, such as pneumonia, norovirus, Lyme disease, tuberculosis, pandemic influenza and Valley fever. NIAID-funded researchers are working toward eliminating some of the world’s most serious health threats, including antimicrobial resistance. NIAID-funded research has fueled some of the biggest public health success stories in recent decades, such as the transformation of HIV/AIDS from a death sentence to a treatable, chronic condition, thanks to the development of antiretroviral agents and the development of treatments, vaccines and diagnostics for RSV, tuberculosis, Ebola, type 1 diabetes, malaria and more. Additionally, NIAID funding is critical to training the public health workforce. Students in NIAID-funded training programs and laboratories go on to work in public health agencies, clinical settings, academic research and industry.Thanks to long-term and sustained support from Congress for NIAID over the years, the U.S. has achieved major victories over deadly, disabling and costly diseases.These achievements include, but are not limited to: Scientists developed new technologies to identify geographic hot spots for Aedes mosquitoes—a type of mosquito that can spread diseases, such as dengue, Zika and chikungunya. The tool is poised to deliver targeted interventions to fight dengue and other diseases in the U.S. and communities across the globe. NIAID-funded research has identified treatment that substantially increases the amount of peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, milk and wheat that multi-food allergic children as young as 1 year could consume without potentially fatal allergic reaction, as research is ongoing in prevention of the development of food allergy in infancy. Currently 8% of children in the U.S. have a food allergy, or 2 in every classroom. NIAID is also sponsoring clinical trials to understand how maternal consumption of peanuts and eggs during pregnancy and breastfeeding prevents babies from developing allergies.A clinical trial funded through NIAID found that the monoclonal antibody mepolizumab reduced asthma attacks by more than 25% in children and adolescents with severe asthma. Asthma affects 1 in 13 Americans, including 20 million adults and over 5 million children.NIAID-funded research spurred the development of the first vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). This treatment will help to prevent an estimated 160,000 hospitalizations and 10,000 deaths of older adults in the U.S. and is projected to save up to $4 billion in health care costs.NIAID researchers discovered a new species of bacteria in the gut that may trigger rheumatoid arthritis (RA), offering new avenues for treatment and prevention. An estimated 50 million Americans suffer from 1 or more autoimmune diseases, including 1.3 million adults with rheumatoid arthritis.Each year, drug-resistant infections impact more than 3 million Americans, killing at least 50,000 people in the U.S. NIAID-funded research is essential to combating drug resistance and developing new medicines for drug-resistant infectious threats. It is projected that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) could become the leading cause of death globally by 2050. Currently, treating the 6 most common antibiotic resistance threats costs the U.S. more than $4.6 billion annually. We strongly urge you and your colleagues to work together on FY2027 funding bills and to ensure strong funding for the life-saving work of NIAID so that American ingenuity can continue to forge a healthier, safer and more equitable world for all. Please reach out to Nicole Zimmerman (nzimmerman@asmusa.org) at the American Society for Microbiology if you have any questions.Sincerely, AIDS Action BaltimoreAIDS Foundation ChicagoAlpha-gal Alliance Action FundAmerican Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP)American Association of ImmunologistsAmerican Association of Veterinary Medical CollegesAmerican Institute of Biological SciencesAmerican Psychological Association ServicesAmerican Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI)American Society for MicrobiologyAmerican Society for VirologyAmerican Society of NephrologyAmerican Society of Tropical Medicine and HygieneAmerican Thoracic Society amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS ResearchAPLA HealthAssociation for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)Association of Nurses in AIDS CareAsthma and Allergy Foundation of AmericaAutoimmune AssociationAVACBenaroya Research InstituteBoston UniversityClear LabsDrugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, North AmericaDysautonomia InternationalElizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS FoundationFederation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain SciencesFoundation for Sarcoidosis ResearchGlobal Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC)HealthHIVHIV Medicine AssociationIAVIInfectious Disease Society of AmericaInternational Foundation for Gastrointestinal Disorders (IFFGD)La Jolla Institute for ImmunologyLatino Commission on AIDS Lupus Foundation of AmericaLupus Research AllianceMEActionMonell Chemical Senses CenterNational Association for Biomedical Research (NABR)National Black Gay Men’s Advocacy CoalitionNational Eczema AssociationNMACOpen Medicine FoundationPatient-Led Research CollaborativePeggy Lillis FoundationPenn State Health/ Penn State College of MedicinePrEP4AllResearch!AmericaSan Francisco AIDS FoundationSave HIV Funding Campaign Sepsis AllianceSociety for Healthcare Epidemiology of AmericaSociety for Public Health EducationSociety of ToxicologySolve M.E.TB AllianceTexas Healthcare and Bioscience InstituteThe Cytokine SocietyThe University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB)Treatment Action GroupUniversity of Maryland, BaltimoreWashington State University

The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has granted a positive opinion to a new and simpler treatment for sleeping sickness, a serious vector-borne disease found in rural sub-Saharan Africa, for which the current treatment can be long and challenging. The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and Sanofi co-developed a single-dose oral treatment, acoziborole, for both early- and advanced-stage infections in people 12 and older, which was found to be highly effective in a pivotal clinical trial. The endorsement will support further regulatory approval and rollout. Sanofi has pledged to donate doses to the World Health Organization, helping improve access to the new drug in the places where it’s most needed. Another study underway is testing the drug in children between 1 and 14 years old. The Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) recently announced that it has acquired all data and licensing rights for apramycin, an antibiotic introduced in the early 1980s to treat serious bacterial infections in animals, to evaluate its potential as a promising antibiotic against drug-resistant infections in humans. The drug has shown potential for human use in preclinical trials, but early-stage development stalled after the company developing it closed. The organization has planned a Phase 1 study set for 2027 to assess safety and pharmacokinetics. Last week, the Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (CARB-X) announced that it’s awarding $1.2 million to Harvard University’s Andrew G. Myers Research Group to develop novel antibiotics for multidrug-resistant bacteria like Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, which cause serious infections around the world. Despite their significant global threat, the pipeline for novel antibiotics against these priority pathogens is lacking. The Harvard team will use the funding to further preclinical development of a new class of antibiotics that target a critical part of multidrug-resistant bacterial pathogens that plays a key role in the pathogens’ ability to cause infection and evolve drug resistance, which the researchers hope will be able to overcome drug-resistant infections without contributing to the emergence of broader cross-resistance.