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In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. In a continuation of the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) focus on global health science and technology, GHTC members PATH and Research!America write about the health and economic benefits of US investments in product development. In related news, USAID has released new figures detailing how over the past decade, the agency has been involved in more than 1,600 public-private partnerships with more than 3,000 individual entities The National Institutes of Health published figures detailing how sequestration will impact its 2013 budget. According to the figures, available funds will drop by $1.55 billion from last year. Aeras received at $2.9 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to work in collaboration with the University of Oxford and biopharmaceutical company Okairos to support the development of vaccines against tuberculosis, HIV, and malaria. PATH has launched a clinical trial in Bangladesh to test a new formulation of oral rehydration solution, a therapy to combat severe dehydration resulting from diarrheal disease.

Last week, Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), Karen Bass (D-CA), and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) introduced the Global Partnerships Act of 2013. The bill is a welcome step to reform the US government’s foreign assistance programs, including strengthening important aspects of US global health research and development (R&D) efforts. Throughout the bill, research and innovation to improve health worldwide are highlighted as central components of US foreign assistance programs. For instance: Harnessing research, innovation and technology is included as one of the key elements of a new global health sector strategy required by the legislation. In addition to a new overarching Global Development Strategy, the bill would require strategies for all of the major foreign assistance sectors, such as global health, every four years. R&D for new health technologies and solutions is prioritized in the legislation as one of four programmatic health areas the bill would support. The others are: maternal health and child survival; family planning and reproductive health; and combating disease. Research for new technologies is also highlighted as essential to the overall success of US foreign assistance programs. The bill includes strong support for public-private partnerships, such as nonprofit groups that develop global health vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, and other products. Finally, the bill would establish a $50 million per year Innovation Fund at the US Agency for International Development. The fund would support “innovative projects and evidence-based solutions that may be tested, replicated, and scaled up in partner countries to significantly improve development outcomes,” including global public health. The bill provides a promising future for US foreign assistance programs—an effort that reflects former Rep. Howard Berman’s (D-CA) legacy in foreign aid policy (Rep. Berman introduced the same bill before he departed Congress at the end of 2012). The bill rightly places research and innovation at the crux of the global health sector, and provides guidance for needed reforms to the US foreign assistance system. As Rep. Connolly said when releasing the bill, “It is time for a complete overhaul of the way we administer foreign aid. The 21st century requires a foreign aid program that recognizes today’s priorities and streamlines the process in the post-Cold War era.” Congress should unquestionably move this legislation forward and introduce a Senate companion bill. However, given that Congress hasn’t made much traction on most pieces of legislation in the past few years, the Partnership Act’s fate isn’t clear. It’s also possible that sections of this legislation may spin off into their own separate bills and see success. The important thing is to keep the congressional dialogue around foreign aid reform going, and not to lose momentum for urgently needed reforms and improvements. You can read a press release from Rep. Connolly here, and a statement from the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network here.

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. The US Agency for International Development is celebrating the role of science and innovation in improving global health from May 1-10. The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) was selected as one of two finalists for the Rockefeller Foundation's "Next Century Innovators Award." DNDi was chosen from among 1,000 nominations for its innovative approach to research and development to address the urgent health needs of the world's most neglected and vulnerable people. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has announced that a clinical trial, called HVTN 505, evaluating a two-part HIV vaccine candidate has been halted. The GHTC recently released the Global Health Regulatory Requirements Database, a unique resource designed to help researchers and regulatory professionals access needed information to secure approval to conduct clinical trials and market products. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) has introduced the Global Partnerships Act of 2013, which would overhaul the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and make US foreign assistance more efficient and effective.

The Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) recently released the Global Health Regulatory Requirements Database. The database is a unique resource designed to help researchers and regulatory professionals access necessary information to develop effective strategies for gaining approval to conduct clinical trials and market products.The database includes high-level regulatory information on a variety of countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, as well as links to key guidance documents and other resources where users can find more detailed information. Information included in the database includes: contact information for national regulatory authority regulators; information on the country’s institutional review board structure; an overview of clinical trial and product registration data requirements, costs, and timelines; and post-registration pharmacovigilance requirements. The Global Health Regulatory Requirements Database offers users easy navigation from country to country, and separates technology specific information into three categories—drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics. Information will be reviewed and updated regularly to ensure its accuracy, as well as to expand the country and data information included. To access the database, please click here.