News

The Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) announced today the appointment of two returning individuals and one new individual elected by the GHTC membership to serve on the coalition’s steering committee for the next three years.   Rachel Cohen, Senior Advisor for Global Policy Advocacy & Access at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, and Elizabeth Lovinger, US and Global Health Policy Director at the Treatment Action Group, will continue serving on the steering committee following their reelection, and Jennifer Maple, Associate Director of Advocacy at IAVI, will newly join the coalition’s governance body following her election to the remaining open committee seat. Additionally, Jenny Blair, Director of US Partnerships at PATH, was recently appointed to hold the ex officio seat designated for PATH, which serves as GHTC’s secretariat organization.“As GHTC sharpens our focus on advancing policies to accelerate global health innovation and prepares for the next US administration and Congress, we’re delighted to welcome our new and returning steering committee members, who bring a wealth of advocacy and partnership experience to support the coalition in deepening our impact,” said GHTC Executive Director Dr. Kristie Mikus. More information about GHTC’s new and returning committee members is provided below: Rachel Cohen Rachel Cohen serves currently as Senior Advisor for Global Policy Advocacy & Access, after having previously served for 12 years as Executive Director of the North America office, at the Drugs for Neglected Disease initiative, an international nonprofit developing safe, effective, and affordable treatments for neglected patients around the world. Rachel has more than 30 years of experience in the global health and humanitarian field having held previous roles at Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières, Housing Works, and the U.S.+Cuba Medical Project. She has served on the GHTC steering committee since its establishment in 2011. Elizabeth Lovinger Elizabeth (Lizzy) Lovinger is the US and Global Health Policy Director for Treatment Action Group, an independent, activist, and community-based research and policy think tank fighting for better treatment, prevention, a vaccine, and a cure for HIV, tuberculosis, and hepatitis C virus. Previously, she was manager of community health promotion at the New York City Health Department, where she focused on LGBTQ+ outreach efforts, and, before that, she worked at Gay Men’s Health Crisis, where she advocated for an end to HIV criminalization and better HIV prevention in prisons. Lizzy has served on the GHTC steering committee since 2021. Jennifer Maple Jennifer (Jenni) Maple serves as Associate Director of Advocacy at IAVI, a nonprofit scientific research organization dedicated to addressing urgent, unmet global health challenges, including HIV, tuberculosis, and emerging infectious diseases. In this role, she leads IAVI’s advocacy and government relations for North America and Japan and manages key relationships with policymakers, donors, advocacy partners, and coalitions. Prior to joining IAVI, Jenni coordinated a youth HIV/AIDS program in southern Uganda. Jenny Blair Jenny Blair is the Director of US Partnerships at PATH, a global nonprofit organization dedicated to achieving health equity worldwide. In her current role, she manages PATH’s engagement and relationships with the US government and key US-based partners. As part of this role, Jenny also leads PATH’s US policy team, working to leverage PATH’s expertise to influence US global health policy. Before joining PATH, Jenny worked for the US House of Representatives and the International Justice Mission. These newly elected and appointed members will be joining other current GHTC steering committee members who are on alternate three-year term cycles, including Jodie Curtis, Washington representative for the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene; John Meade Jr., Senior Program Manager of Policy at AVAC; and Fara Ndiaye, Deputy Executive Director of Speak Up Africa. Full biographies of all GHTC steering committee members can be found on GHTC’s website. 

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. Amid the ongoing outbreak in Rwanda of the deadly Marburg virus, Rwandan health authorities announced Sunday that they will begin a clinical trial of a vaccine against the virus, for which there are no approved therapies or vaccines. The trial, which will deploy an investigational vaccine from the Sabin Vaccine Institute, will target health workers, emergency responders, and individuals who have been in contact with confirmed cases, according to the Health Ministry. The Rwanda Biomedical Centre will serve as the trial sponsor.Last Wednesday, Gilead Sciences announced a plan to allow six generic pharmaceutical companies in India, Pakistan, and Egypt to produce and sell the twice-yearly HIV prevention injectable drug lenacapavir in 120 countries, including all those with the highest HIV rates globally. This news comes after results published earlier this year from two clinical trials showed that the drug was extremely effective at preventing HIV across key populations—cisgender women, gay men, and trans and nonbinary people, who were all represented in the trials. While the new plan aims to enable rapid and broad access to the drug in many countries, the deal excludes most middle- and high-income countries, which account for around 20 percent of new infections. In those countries, the originator drug will only be available at higher prices, making it potentially unaffordable and inaccessible to at-risk populations, particularly those in middle-income countries.Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued new recommendations encouraging vaccination of pregnant women and administration of antibody shots to newborn babies to protect against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which is a leading cause of severe infection and death in babies, with a majority of RSV-related deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries. There is only one vaccine, Abrysvo, for pregnant women and one antibody shot, Beyfortus, for infants and toddlers available in the United States and a handful of other countries. Supply of these products is limited and the cost, specifically of Beyfortus, is high, which could limit global access and affordability until lower-cost, more widely available existing products and new, innovative products enter the market.

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. Two recent studies found that the virus that causes COVID-19 is developing resistance to two antiviral drugs commonly used for treatment in patients with compromised immune systems: remdesivir and nirmatrelvir. The first study from Cornell University and US National Institutes of Health researchers, which specifically looked at immunocompromised patients, found that the virus developed a reduced sensitivity to the drugs, while the second study from University of Pittsburgh, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Stanford University, and Harvard University researchers also found resistant mutations, with the effect more evident in the immunocompromised and those who had received nirmatrelvir. These results raise concerns as the threat of antimicrobial resistance globally grows.Researchers from the University of California, Riverside; the University of California, Irvine; and the Yale School of Medicine have designed a new synthetic compound, MED6-189, which is effective against drug-sensitive and drug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria strains in vitro and in mice engineered to have human blood. MED6-189, inspired by a compound extracted from marine sponges, works by targeting and disrupting a specialized part of P. falciparum cells, as well as the pathways used to transport materials within the cells, thereby preventing the pathogen from developing resistance. The next steps include continued optimization of the MED6-189 and further confirmation of its mechanisms of action, but, if the compound continues to demonstrate success, this research could lead to the development of an important tool to address the rising challenge of antimalarial drug resistance.Last week, the US Department of Health and Human Services through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health announced funding for the Transforming Antibiotic R&D with Generative AI to stop Emerging Threats project that will use artificial intelligence (AI) to speed up the discovery and development of new classes of antibiotics to meet the urgent need for new drugs amid the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. While conventional antibiotic discovery methods require time-consuming manual screening and testing of potential molecular compounds, most of which do not advance into further development, this project will employ deep learning to develop new methods to identify biomolecules with potential and use generative AI to expand the number of potential antibiotic candidates.

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced the Supporting Innovative Global Health Technologies (SIGHT) Act of 2024. The bill would empower the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to boost its research and development (R&D) capabilities for health care technologies in low- and middle-income countries abroad. This bill, S.5278, is a companion bill to H.R.6424, which was introduced in the House of Representatives last November by Representatives Brian Fitzpatrick (PA-01), María Elvira Salazar (FL-27), and Chrissy Houlahan (PA-06)."We applaud Senator Booker for his leadership in advancing next-generation health innovations that are critical for tackling both known and emerging global health challenges by expanding the global health R&D ecosystem within the US government," said Dr. Kristie Mikus, Executive Director of the Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC), which represents 49 nonprofit organizations, academic institutions, and aligned businesses dedicated to advancing life-saving innovations globally. "With its extensive presence in low- and middle-income countries and its strong track record of fostering public-private partnerships, USAID is uniquely positioned to drive groundbreaking health innovation. It is encouraging to see congressional leaders in both the House and Senate recognize USAID's potential to embrace new disease-agnostic program areas that will complement the ongoing USAID R&D partnerships that have already been instrumental in saving millions of lives around the world."