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Last week, Cepheid announced that its Xpert Hemorrhagic Fever Panel test has received Emergency Use Listing from the World Health Organization, enabling the technology to be deployed to help identify suspected cases and support outbreak containment in the rapidly growing outbreak of Bundibugyo Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The molecular panel test detects and identifies Ebola virus (multiple strains, including Bundibugyo), Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, Marburg virus, and Lassa virus, providing results in around an hour. The test runs on Cepheid’s GeneXpert diagnostic technology system, which is already widely used across Africa, helping enable rapid implementation. Cepheid previously donated an initial shipment of tests cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration through the Department of War, and the new listing now enables further deployment. A Phase 2 clinical trial led by the Serum Institute of India found that an experimental monoclonal antibody for dengue virus was safe, well-tolerated, and provided evidence of efficacy in a Phase 2 clinical trial. Dengue affects more than 200 million people each year and is a growing global threat due to the expanding range of the virus-carrying mosquito species. There are several licensed vaccines for dengue but no licensed antiviral drugs. The experimental antibody previously neutralized all four serotypes of dengue virus in animal studies and demonstrated safety in a Phase 1 trial in healthy adults. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have discovered rare antibodies that could inform the development of a therapeutic or preventive intervention for alpha-gal syndrome, an emerging tick-bite-associated condition behind a growing number of cases in the United States and globally, which can lead to allergic reactions to a molecule in red meat and other animal products. The discovery was made through malaria research—the scientists were originally trying to find antibodies that could target alpha-gal (a sugar molecule) on malaria parasites as a potential strategy for malaria prevention. In laboratory tests, the rare antibodies successfully hindered human allergic antibodies from binding to red meat allergens. There are currently no specific treatments or preventions for alpha-gal syndrome.

The Gates Foundation has awarded ProFound Therapeutics up to $35 million to find new drug targets for preeclampsia, a high blood pressure condition during pregnancy that can be severe for mother and child and is a significant contributor to maternal and fetal deaths globally, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. ProFound will utilize their vast repository of proteins and data to improve scientific understanding of how preeclampsia is developed in the body, with the goal of identifying promising approaches for future drug development. Once targets are identified, the company will explore their features using an AI tool and then evaluate them in laboratory experiments.Last week, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) announced that it will invest up to $16.5 million to advance the development of an African-developed vaccine candidate for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which is behind the fast-growing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. CEPI’s support will help advance the candidate through preclinical development and into an early-stage clinical trial in Africa. The vaccine candidate uses a technology that is utilized by a licensed vaccine against smallpox and mpox and has elicited long-term immunity in a vaccine targeting the Zaire strain of Ebola. It is the fifth Bundibugyo-specific vaccine candidate supported by CEPI in response to the current outbreak and the only of the five designed to induce two major parts of the immune system, both B- and T-cells, for comprehensive and long-lasting immunity.A novel tuberculosis (TB) vaccine candidate failed to match the current, more-than-100-years-old vaccine in preventing TB infections in newborns, according to the recently shared results of a Phase 3 trial conducted among 6,897 healthy newborns in sub-Saharan Africa. TB remains the world’s leading infectious disease killer and there is an urgent need for a new vaccine—the current TB vaccine, BCG, is effective at preventing some types of TB in infants, but it offers inconsistent protection in adults against pulmonary TB. One of 17TB vaccine candidates in the pipeline, the vaccine in the trial, VPM1002, is a genetically modified recombinant BCG vaccine developed by the Serum Institute of India. While disappointing, the results of the trial do provide significant insights about how best to design robust, feasible efficacy trials for future vaccine candidates.

455 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Suite 1000 | Washington, DC 20001 | (202) 642-3858 | ghtcoalition.orgAugust 31, 2026Dr. Erica SchwartzDirectorCenters for Disease Control and PreventionDepartment of Health and Human ServicesDear Dr. Schwartz,On behalf of the Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC), a group of more than 50 nonprofit organizations, academicinstitutions, and aligned businesses working to save and improve lives worldwide by advancing research and development(R&D) of essential health technologies, congratulations on your appointment as Director of the Centers for Disease Controland Prevention (CDC). Your distinguished career as Deputy US Surgeon General, occupational medicine physician, andclinical epidemiologist, along with your decades of service in the Navy and US Public Health Service, will be tremendousassets as you lead the CDC.GHTC and our members have long valued the close and productive relationship we have had with CDC’s leadership. Overmany years, we have partnered with CDC leadership and staff to educate members of Congress and other key stakeholdersabout the importance of global health research and the return on investment in programs supported by the agency. Thiscollaboration has been critical in helping policymakers understand how CDC’s work strengthens US leadership in science,enhances global health security, and protects health at home and abroad.As you begin your tenure, we want to underscore the critical role CDC’s global health portfolio plays in both thedevelopment of new technologies to advance disease detection, prevention, and response, and in building the technicalcapacity for these activities around the world. CDC’s Global Health Center is a global leader in immunization, diseasedetection and eradication, and public health capacity building, all of which help curb disease outbreaks overseas beforethey can threaten American health. The National Center for Emerging Zoonotic and Infectious Diseases also plays animportant role globally, developing new diagnostic tools for threats like plague, rabies, and antimicrobial resistance, andserves as an international reference hub for vector-borne viral and bacterial diseases. Importantly, CDC also plays aleadership role in the Global Health Security Agenda and other global health security efforts, sharing expertise, andworking to improve the global capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to diseases around the world, including throughR&D for new technologies.As we face a rapidly evolving global health landscape, continued investment in global health R&D remains vital. GHTCstands ready to serve as a resource to you and your team as you advance CDC’s mission, and we would welcome theopportunity to meet with you to discuss shared priorities and opportunities for collaboration.Congratulations again on your appointment. We look forward to working with you and your team to sustain and buildupon CDC’s longstanding legacy of advancing public health capacity in the US and globally. I’d very much welcome a briefmeeting once you are settled.Sincerely,Dr. Kristie MikusExecutive DirectorGlobal Health Technologies Coalition455 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Suite 1000 | Washington, DC 20001 | (202) 642-3858 | ghtcoalition.orgGHTC Members1Day SoonerAdjuvant CapitalAmerican Society for MicrobiologyAmerican Society of Tropical Medicine and HygieneAVACBay Area Global Health AllianceBDCentre for Infectious Disease Research in ZambiaCoalition for Epidemic Preparedness InnovationsCoalition for Health Research and Development,KenyaCo-DxCombating Antibiotic-Resistant BacteriaBiopharmaceutical AcceleratorDoris Mollel FoundationDrugs for Neglected Diseases initiativeElizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS FoundationFHI 360FINDGates FoundationGeorgia Global Health AllianceGlobal Antibiotic Research and DevelopmentPartnershipGlobal Health CouncilGlobal Health Innovative Technology FundGlobal Health Investment CorporationHealth 4 DevelopmentIAVIImpact Global HealthInfectious Disease AllianceInfectious Diseases Society of AmericaInnovative Vector Control ConsortiumInternational Partnership for Microbicides SouthAfricaInternational Public Health AdvisorsInternational Vaccine InstituteMaisha MedsMedicines for Malaria VentureNorth Carolina Global Health AlliancePasteur FoundationPATHPopulation CouncilPublic CitizenPublic Health Ambassadors UgandaResearch!AmericaSabin Vaccine InstituteSouth African Health Technologies Advocacy CoalitionSpeak Up AfricaTB AllianceTreatment Action GroupVizuri Health DynamicsWashington Global Health AllianceZebra

Last Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that, with support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, it will allocate 70,000 doses of an approved Ebola vaccine to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is facing the largest Ebola outbreak in the country’s history. The vaccine, Ervebo, targets Ebola Zaire, the most common Ebola strain, not the Bundibugyo strain behind the current outbreak—for which there are no approved vaccines —but early laboratory and animal data suggest it may provide some cross-protection. Twenty thousand doses will be used in a Phase 3 trial to evaluate whether the vaccine offers cross-protection for Bundibugyo, while the remaining doses will be allocated to frontline health care workers, serving the dual goals of providing some protection for at-risk populations against severe illness and death during the current outbreak while gathering critical data to inform use of the vaccine in future Bundibugyo outbreaks.Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research have developed a rapid blood test that could improve detection of iron deficiency, a widespread health challenge disproportionately affecting mothers and children in low-resource settings where access to conventional laboratory-based screening methods are limited. Using a finger-prick blood sample, the test provides results within 15 minutes without the need for specialized laboratory infrastructure and highly trained health care providers. It has demonstrated strong correlation with gold-standard laboratory methods used in high-income countries and includes a built-in reference line to make the results easier to interpret. The test is currently undergoing evaluation in sub-Saharan Africa.The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) shared last week that it will dedicate $4.17 million to four research projects designed to assess whether additional vaccines currently or previously licensed against Ebola Zaire could offer some cross-protection against severe illness and death during the current rapidly growing outbreak of Bundibugyo Ebola. Specifically, the funding will go to teams at the University of California, Los Angeles in the United States; the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Belgium; the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom; and the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research in the United Kingdom. The research teams will use blood samples from vaccinated individuals to assess immune responses and potential cross-reactivity of antibody responses, helping establish and standardize antibody tests for Bundibugyo, inform interpretation of clinical trial results, and guide future strategies. These research initiatives will support trials during the current outbreak and complement ongoing efforts to develop Bundibugyo-specific vaccines.