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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 new study from scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases that builds on decades of research offers promising findings about the immune response to HIV, which could help guide further research into HIV vaccine design and development. The researchers compared the immune system activity of past HIV vaccine study participants to people with HIV who naturally keep the virus from replicating even without antiretroviral therapy, finding that future HIV vaccine candidates may be more successful if they include additional doses or persist longer in the body to continue to stimulate the immune system to deliver the proteins necessary to destroy HIV-infected cells. The research is especially encouraging given the recently halted HIV vaccine trial and hopefully can lead to further advances in the field.Last week, the Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund announced that it will invest approximately $8.8 million to accelerate the further development and commercialization of a triple artemisinin combination drug against malaria. Specifically, the investment will support a global, multicenter phase 3 clinical trial project in Africa and Southeast Asia led by Fosum Pharma. The project also includes the development of a co-formulated child-friendly version of the drug, given the high proportion of malaria deaths that occur in children under five. The new drug could also play a role in addressing the rising threat of malaria drug resistance. Recent findings suggest that an inhaled vaccine for COVID-19 delivered directly to the respiratory tract where the virus infects the body could improve protection against infection. The researchers tested COVID-19 vaccine boosters delivered via nasal spray, inhaler, and a shot in the arm in adult rhesus macaques, finding that the inhaled vaccine provided greater mucosal immunity than the other two methods. The promising findings will hopefully further research toward more effective vaccines against COVID-19 and other respiratory viral infections.

The Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) yesterday honored Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) for their leadership in championing global health research and development (R&D) at its 2023 Innovating for Impact Awards, an annual initiative celebrating US policymakers and partnerships catalyzing global health innovation. GHTC also recognized the partners, led by ViiV Healthcare, that developed and are accelerating global access to cabotegravir long acting (CAB-LA) for HIV prevention—the first and only long-acting injectable option for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)—for their efforts to advance this groundbreaking new product that could transform global HIV prevention efforts. Senator Chris Van Hollen, who is a member of both the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations and the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health Policy, was honored with a Congressional Champion Award for his longstanding work to grow funding for US biomedical research and global health programs and to advance smart policies to further their impact. “I am pleased to be on the appropriations committee, and not only using that platform to try to fully fund, for example, our efforts at NIH and all of our health research here at home, but also, the research here at home that has a direct benefit to people around the world,” Senator Van Hollen said in accepting the award. GHTC also recognized Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick with a Congressional Champion Award for his leadership in introducing the Supporting Innovative Global Health Technologies (SIGHT) Act to establish a new disease-agnostic research and development (R&D) program at the US Agency for International Development (USAID), as well his support of numerous other bills to bolster product development for tuberculosis, maternal and child health, epidemic preparedness, and antimicrobial resistance. “The United States must remain a world leader in health technology innovation, both at home and abroad. And I personally will always oppose any dangerous cuts to critical agencies that allow our nation to remain a leader in global health,” Congressman Fitzpatrick stated in prerecorded acceptance remarks. GHTC also presented the Partnership Award to Dr. Kimberley Smith, head of research and development at ViiV Healthcare, who accepted the award on behalf of the many partners who have contributed to developing and advancing global access to CAB-LA for PrEP. As a discrete solution that reduces the frequency with which people must take HIV medicine from daily pills to as few as six injections per year, CAB-LA can help more people adhere to PrEP and reduce infections, particularly among at-risk women and girls.  Developed by ViiV, with support from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and first approved in the United States in late 2021, CAB-LA for PreP is beginning to be rolled out in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) through a series of unique public-private partnerships. This includes projects funded by the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to support countries in implementing and scaling up CAB-LA, as well as an agreement with the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) to enable generic manufacturing of the product for use in LMICs.  “It is literally humbling and a tremendous honor to be here to accept this partnership award on behalf of all of the partners,” said Dr. Smith. “This is a game changer, and I'm very much looking forward to the day when we can look back and say that this was the beginning of the end of the AIDS epidemic.Dr. Smith from ViiV was joined in accepting the award by Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, director of the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); Dr. Carl Dieffenbach, director of the Division of AIDS at NIH/NIAID; Dr. Emily Kainne Dokubo, deputy global AIDS coordinator for program quality at PEPFAR; Dianna Edgil, chief of the supply chain at USAID; Dr. Myron Cohen, principal investigator of the HIV Prevention Trials Network; and representatives from other organizations involved in advancing CAB-LA for PrEP. “GHTC is thrilled to honor Senator Van Hollen, Congressman Fitzpatrick, and the partners who advanced CAB-LA for PrEP with our Innovating for Impact Awards,” said Jamie Bay Nishi, executive director of GHTC. “History has shown us time and again just how important accessible health technologies, smart policymaking, and multisector partnerships are to confronting global health challenges. We’re delighted to be recognizing the outstanding work of our honorees who are driving innovation to advance global health progress.” During the awards reception, in recognition of 2023 being the year of the World Health Assembly resolution on strengthening diagnostic capacity, GHTC also featured a digital exhibit on diagnostic tools as an often underrecognized driver of global health progress. Now in its seventh year, the Innovating for Impact Awards celebrate US commitment to global health R&D and honor the multisector partnerships and policymakers helping to transform breakthrough scientific research into lifesaving technologies for unmet global health challenges.  View photos from the event on Flickr.Learn more about the initiative and past honorees.

While we know that vaccines, drugs, diagnostics, devices, and vector control innovations are all vital tools in our global health toolbox, in this year of the World Health Assembly resolution on strengthening diagnostics capacity, GHTC wanted to shine a special spotlight on diagnostics as an often underrecognized driver of global health progress. Diagnostics play a critical role for patients, health care providers, and decision-makers, and innovating and improving access to diagnostics are necessary to achieving universal health coverage. The below presentation, which was shared during GHTC's Innovating for Impact Awards reception on December 12, features an explainer of types of diagnostics tests and a glossary of terms, as well as key quotes and facts that demonstrate the critical role of diagnostics.

December 12, 2023The Honorable Kay GrangerChairwomanHouse Appropriations Committee1026 Longworth House Office BuildingWashington, DC 20515The Honorable Rosa DeLauroRanking MemberHouse Appropriations Committee and House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies2413 Rayburn House Office BuildingWashington, DC 20515The Honorable Robert AderholtChairmanHouse Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies266 Cannon House Office BuildingWashington, DC 20515Dear Chairwoman Granger, Ranking Member DeLauro, and Chairman Adherholt: Global Health Council (GHC) is the leading member organization with more than 130 members devoted to advancing global health priorities by uniting advocates, implementers, policymakers, and other stakeholders. As a community of global health and development advocates, we are deeply concerned with the steep cuts proposed in the fiscal year (FY) 2024 House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) bill which, if enacted, would severely undercut critical global health and research programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The bill drastically cuts funding for the CDC Global Health Center’s Division for Global Public Health Protection (DGHP), whose programs bolster critical health system capacities in partner countries. For instance, DGHP supports field epidemiology training programs around the world, building the public health workforce needed to detect, investigate, control emerging health threats, and respond to the public health impacts of natural disasters and humanitarian crises. DGHP’s work is vital to our shared global health security, which the proposed cuts undermine. Furthermore, the bill completely eliminates funding for CDC’s global HIV work with the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which is responsible for more than half of PEPFAR’s annual results across key HIV testing, treatment, prevention, and other interventions known to have the greatest impact on HIV incidence and mortality. If funding to CDC’s global HIV work were to be eliminated, lifesaving treatment and care for approximately 700,000 mothers, children, and adults would be eliminated, resulting in additional deaths and increasing transmission of the HIV virus among adults and children worldwide.The bill also includes harmful amendments prohibiting funding to the World Health Organization (WHO) which, if enacted, significantly increases the risk to Americans at home and abroad to deadly and debilitating infectious diseases, like measles, polio, and malaria— all of which have been recently detected here on U.S. soil. The hundreds of global immunization experts that CDC supports around the world through WHO amplify a broad range of other longstanding, bipartisan U.S global health priorities, including polio eradication and malaria treatment and control. Prohibiting funding would result in the erasure of WHO immunization activities for polio eradication, while disrupting the collection of genetic information about viruses that vaccine manufacturers depend on to create vaccines that protect Americans. Additionally, the prohibition on WHO funding risks U.S. economic interests by weakening countries’ ability to detect, prevent, and control disease outbreaks at their source, before they become even more deadly and costly to contain, and jeopardizes U.S. health diplomacy by ceding influential decisions to competitors.The bill’s proposed cuts to NIH run counter to lessons learned by U.S. successes in responding to public health threats and pandemics through leadership in global health research and development—most starkly in the proposed cuts to the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which was pivotal to bringing the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to the American public and the world. As global health threats, like neglected tropical diseases and malaria begin to reappear in the U.S., it will be past, present, and future research conducted at NIAID that will underpin our response. Similarly, cutting NIAID's funding will have a direct impact on our understanding of antimicrobial resistance, one of the world’s most pressing health threats, as NIAID researchers are actively supporting the development of more effective diagnostic tests, new antibiotics, and novel treatments effective against drug-resistant microbes. This bill is a dangerous signal to the rest of the world that the U.S. is ceding leadership on the global stage. Therefore, as FY24 appropriations negotiations progress, GHC, and the undersigned organizations, strongly encourage robust funding for global health and research programs within the Health and Human Services (550) account and, at a minimum, support investments for these programs in line with the FY23 enacted levels. Additional funds should come as an increase to the overall topline and not at the expense of any other accounts.If you have any questions about our recommendations, please feel free to contact the Global Health Council at advocacy@globalhealth.org.Sincerely,Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine (AIHM)American Academy of PediatricsAmerican Heart AssociationAmerican Public Health Association American Society of Tropical Medicine and HygieneAmericas TB CoalitionAmref Health AfricaAssociation for Professionals in Infection Control and EpidemiologyAVACCAREChildren's HeartLinkChristian Connections for International HealthCommunity Health Impact CoalitionCORE GroupDrugs for Neglected Diseases initiativeElizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS FoundationFamily Centered Treatment FoundationFast-Track Cities InstituteFINDFirst Focus Campaign for ChildrenFriends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, TB and MalariaFunders Concerned About AIDSGeorgia AIDS CoalitionGlobal Alliance for Rheumatic and Congenital Hearts (Global ARCH)Global Health CouncilGlobal Health Technologies CoalitionHealth GAP (Global Access Project)Hearts Unite the Globe: A Nonprofit for the Congenital Heart Defect CommunityHousing Works, Inc.Integrate HealthInternational Association for Dental, Oral, and Craniofacial ResearchInternational Association of Providers of AIDS CareInternational Medical CorpsIpasMalaria No MoreManagement Sciences for Healthmothers2mothersNASTADOllie Hinkle Heart FoundationOperation SmilePAIPandemic Action NetworkPATHPathfinder International Policy Cures ResearchProject HOPEResearch!America Resolve to Save LivesRTI InternationalShot@LifeStop TB USATask Force for Global HealthTB AllianceThe G4 Alliance The Mended Hearts, Inc. Treatment Action GroupUNICEF USAUnited to Beat MalariaU.S. Pharmacopeia (USP)VillageReachWaterAidWorld Hepatitis AllianceWorld Vision1,000 Days, an initiative of FHI 360