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The Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) released the following statement in advance of the Global Goal: Unite for Our Future Summit on June 27:The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare that the extent of our preparedness for any health emergency is determined by the tools we have to respond to it. It is clearer now than ever before that research and development (R&D) must be the tip of the spear of our response to global health emergencies—and that innovation is our exit strategy from the economic and social ills brought on by this unprecedented crisis.At the recent pledging conference organized by the European Union and the replenishment summit for Gavi, the vaccine alliance, world leaders took an important first step in mobilizing crucial funds to develop innovations to help the poorest countries cope with COVID-19 and strengthen health systems. But this is not enough.As world leaders gather again at the Global Goal: Unite for Our Future Summit on June 27th, we must seize this opportunity to ensure that we have the resources and efficient, inclusive mechanisms in place to rid the world of COVID-19, deliver equitable access to innovations, and prevent future pandemics. To do that, leaders must urgently commit to sustainable financing for pandemic preparedness and health R&D. We must break the deadly and costly cycle of panic and neglect once and for all.We welcome country commitments made thus far to support the development of COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines, but underscore that more investment is needed. Diagnostic testing for COVID-19, in particular, remains severely underfunded, with just 2.5 percent of all donated funds allocated to diagnostic efforts.As an organization focused on the advancement of drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, and other tools for poverty-related and neglected diseases, GHTC is pleased to serve as a civil society partner focused on the upstream R&D activities of the Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator and supports robust Global South-led civil society engagement, particularly to articulate the demand for various COVID-19 products as they are being developed. Innovations must be developed with the needs of vulnerable communities in mind, and any plan being launched on the development, production, procurement, and distribution of possible future health technologies needs to have universal access and equity at its heart.  Furthermore, we encourage leaders to leverage the summit for a dialogue on how countries can work together to strengthen and participate in the World Health Organization’s Global Allocation Framework for COVID-19 products.The June 27th summit is an opportunity for the world to come together and to lay another marker on the long road to ending the COVID-19 crisis and building a sustainable health R&D infrastructure to face future outbreaks.

The Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) has opened nominations for its 2020 Innovating for Impact Awards. Now in its fourth year, this initiative recognizes the research partnerships and political champions that help transform breakthrough scientific research into lifesaving drugs, diagnostics, vaccines, and other tools for devastating, unmet global health challenges. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s honorees will be recognized through a digital, multimedia campaign in lieu of our annual recognition dinner.Awards will be presented in two categories:The PARTNERSHIP AWARD honors an innovative research and development (R&D) partnership that brings together multisector partners to advance a high-impact, game-changing global health technology. The partnership must have received federally funded research support or in-kind support from a US government agency.The CONGRESSIONAL CHAMPION AWARD honors two US Members of Congress whose actions have strengthened political will and advanced US efforts to develop technologies to fight the world’s most challenging diseases and health conditions.Nominations will be open until Friday, July 31, 2020. Awardees will be editorially selected by a committee of leaders from the global health and research communities and honored through a digital, multimedia campaign in early December that will reach an audience of policymakers, US government officials, media, and leaders of the global health and medical research communities.Previous honorees for the Congressional Champion Award include Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Chris Coons (D-DE) and Representatives Anna Eshoo (D-CA), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), and Tom Cole (R-OK). Past Partnership Award honorees include the respective partnerships that developed the dapivirine microbicide ring for HIV prevention, child-friendly tuberculosis medicines, and the RTS,S malaria vaccine.

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.Dexamethasone, an inexpensive, decades-old drug is showing promise for treating COVID-19, per unpublished, preliminary results from a study called Recovery that was funded by the United Kingdom. The preliminary results indicated that the drug reduced the risk of death for patients on ventilators by 35 percent, those receiving oxygen by 20 percent, and overall mortality by 17 percent. Immediately following the results, the United Kingdom granted approval for use of the drug to treat COVID-19. According to FiercePharma, UK officials have enough dexamethasone stockpiled to treat 200,000 patients.  A recent study lends support to anecdotal evidence that blood type and genetics may be linked to worse outcomes from COVID-19 illness. Last Wednesday, a team of European researchers published a study in The New England Journal of Medicine indicating that people with type A blood have a 45 percent higher risk of catching COVID-19 and sliding into respiratory failure and people with type O blood have a 35 percent lower risk of developing respiratory failure compared to people with other blood types. Scientists are still unsure why blood type might be correlated with COVID-19 outcomes, but a nascent hypothesis is that it could be linked to blood clotting risk. The researchers also found that a cluster of genes are associated with higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 by 77 percent.A project led by researchers from Scripps Research, GHTC member IAVI, and the University of California San Diego School of Medicine published research in Science detailing a set of antibodies discovered in recovered COVID-19 patients that provide powerful protection against SARS-CoV-2. In theory, the antibodies could be given to patients who are just developing the illness to prevent progression to severe disease and to protect people who are at higher risk for contracting COVID-19. To discover the antibodies, the scientists isolated more than 1,000 distinct antibody-producing immune cells, obtained genetic sequences from these cells to produce more antibodies, and then tested the antibodies’ effectiveness against blocking the virus in vitro. The researchers discovered several antibodies that, even in small quantities, could block the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The work was funded by the US National Institutes of Health, IAVI, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, among others.

A letter endorsed by GHTC's director Jamie Bay Nishi calling for greater investment in research on COVID-19 diagnostics through the ACT Accelerator was featured in Politico Europe's Morning Health Care newsletter. The letter, from the G20 Health and Development Partnership, notes the ACT Accelerator has allocated only 2.5 percent of funding to diagnostics despite their critical importance to an effective response to COVID-19 and calls for countries to remedy this funding imbalance at the June 27th Second Pledging Conference organized by the European Union in partnership with Global Citizen.See excerpt below from the Politico newsletter:FIRST IN MHC — ‘MORE MONEY FOR TESTING,’ ADVOCACY GROUP SAYS: The G20 Health and Development Partnership is calling for more funds to be spent on testing. In an open letter due to be published today, the advocacy group said that too little money is being spent on diagnostic solutions in the pandemic. It noted that the ACT-Accelerator has allocated about 46 percent of donated funds to strengthen health systems and around 24 percent to vaccine development, but less than 3 percent on testing solutions. “It is puzzling why diagnostics have received such low levels of funding given its critical importance to an effective response to COVID-19,” the letter reads.