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Statement from Jamie Bay Nishi, Director, Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC), on the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2019 (PAHPAI), signed into law today by President Trump, which reauthorizes the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA)This legislation is an important step forward in strengthening our nation’s preparedness against global disease threats. We applaud the Administration and Congress for recognizing that protecting our nation’s health requires deploying BARDA’s unique capabilities to combat all hazards—not only chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, but naturally occurring health threats as well. The legislation’s authorization of Strategic Initiatives to develop countermeasures against emerging infectious diseases, pandemic influenza and antimicrobial-resistant pathogens is a welcome move in fortifying our nation’s public health defenses.Now, Congress must match this authorization with strong investments in BARDA so the agency can deliver innovations against the full spectrum of health threats we face. Most of BARDA’s work on emerging infectious diseases has been funded piecemeal through emergency appropriations for Zika and Ebola, funding now nearly depleted—even as the Ebola outbreak escalates. This funding by crisis approach is inadequate. It undermines our ability to prepare for future threats. The House of Representatives’ proposed fiscal year (FY) 2020 appropriation provides a modest increase for BARDA, which is welcome. But a larger investment is needed for BARDA to fully and equitably fund the breadth of disease threats within its mandate and capitalize on recent scientific advances to generate innovations that could dramatically boost our capacity to neutralize potentially catastrophic outbreaks.BARDA’s reinforced authority to pursue Strategic Initiatives against naturally occurring threats can provide a significant contribution to our nation’s defenses. But this authority is of limited value without sufficient funding. We urge Congress to provide BARDA with a budget that is aligned with its mandate—and its unique capacity to deliver new tools to fight back against intensifying threats like Ebola; unexpected emergencies like Zika; and smoldering problems, like the steady, ominous rise in drug-resistant infections, and the near certainty of a future fight against a deadly strain of pandemic influenza.  Diseases punish the unprepared. We need a research infrastructure primed for a rapid response. That requires a strong, reliable investment in BARDA distributed across a diverse and promising research portfolio.CONTACT: Katy Lenard, klenard@burness.com, +1 301-280-5719

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 large new study confirms previous research suggesting that a vaccine against rotavirus—a highly contagious virus that can cause severe illness and death in infants and young children— may have an added benefit: lowering the risk for Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease that usually develops in childhood. The study showed a 33 percent reduction in the incidence of Type 1 diabetes among children who completed the three-dose RotaTeq series compared with unvaccinated children. RotaTeq, which protects against five different strains of rotavirus, is one of two orally administered rotavirus vaccines. Among those children in the study who took only one or two of the required three RotaTeq doses, there was no reduction in incidence compared with unvaccinated children. The reductions in risk in those who took the other version of the rotavirus vaccine, Rotarix, were not statistically significant. Approximately one million treatment courses of new child-friendly, easy-to-administer tuberculosis (TB) medicines have been ordered by 93 countries since they were first introduced in 2016, according to developer TB Alliance. Prior to the development of these treatments, caregivers would approximate children’s dosing by crushing or splitting bitter-flavored adult pills, which created adherence challenges. The new treatments meet World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for childhood TB treatment and are dissolvable in water and flavored for palatability, making it easier for caregivers to administer. The 93 countries in which these treatments have been introduced account for 75 percent of the estimated global childhood TB burden. According to WHO, one million children are diagnosed with TB every year. US President Donald Trump recently issued an executive order calling for all US federal agencies to cut at least one-third of their advisory committees by September—a move many previous agency heads and critics say would weaken science-based regulation processes and the use of evidence-based policymaking. When excluding agencies that are mandated by law, a total of 462 boards and advisory committees that advise on government regulations and provide scientific oversight on other agency decisions are potentially on the chopping block as a result of the executive order. Critics of the executive order said that the one-third number put forth by the Trump administration seemed completely arbitrary and also pushed back on the notion that cutting the committees would save taxpayer dollars.