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GHTC responded to Senator Ben Cardin's (D-MD) request for information (RFI) on strengthening global health systems through local partnerships post-pandemic by emphasizing the need to invest in innovative product development and the broader innovation ecosystem, as well as strengthening research and manufacturing capacities, especially in low- and middle-income countries.To the attention of:Senator Benjamin L. CardinCOVID-19 cast the importance of a strong, unified, and fully financed global health architecture into sharp relief. However, while the pandemic dominated headlines, progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals and other health priorities has stalled, underscoring the need to reaffirm the importance of investments in ongoing epidemics, including in tuberculosis, malaria, HIV, neglected tropical diseases, and other neglected infectious diseases. To regain our global footing on these diseases, known and unknown, investments by the government in Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) must include catalyzing product development for new drugs, vaccines, diagnostics, vector control products, and other health tools, as well as strengthening research and manufacturing capacities and ensuring more direct investment in existing innovation ecosystems, especially in low- and middle- income countries (LMICs).According to the same Lancet Commission on Investing in Health paper cited in the RFI, even if our current health technologies were scaled widely, the world could still not achieve our Sustainable Development Goals for health. True HSS must address future supply chain issues and dependence on a handful of stakeholders for vital health products, and global and regional leaders must make a concerted effort to strengthen local production and technical capacities to enhance regional manufacturing capabilities. Investments should be made in regional hubs that can serve multiple countries, especially during major outbreaks, but also for ongoing health threats from poverty-related and neglected diseases.The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is a leader in global health and development, making them uniquely poised to not only conduct HSS but also to invest in the research and development of technologies for global health on a disease-agnostic level. Congress should seek to invest in USAID’s mandate to both bolster the human and infrastructural resources of health systems and vest those systems with the capacity to innovate and build next-generation technologies that are fit for use in LMICs.Sincerely,Alex Long

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. Duke University researchers have developed a synthetic antibiotic, LPC-233, that could be effective against drug-resistant superbugs and bacteria. LPC-233 was found to be effective in protecting mice from fatal doses of multidrug-resistant bacteria by disrupting the synthesis of the outer membrane of the bacteria. LPC-233, which is a synthetic compound of the LpxC inhibitor, was developed after the first human trial of LpxC inhibitors failed because of cardiovascular toxicity. Hopefully, future studies will confirm the new antibiotic as a potential tool to address drug-resistant superbugs.Last week, the Project to Accelerate New Treatments for Tuberculosis (PAN-TB) collaboration announced the start of a phase 2b/c clinical trial to evaluate novel treatment regimens for drug-sensitive tuberculosis (TB). The trial, which is sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will evaluate two novel drug regimens made up of different combinations of five antibacterial agents—including the TB Alliance-developed pretomanid and the Janssen-developed bedaquiline— and will take place in high-burden countries starting with South Africa. The results will hopefully lead to a new, shorter pan-TB treatment regimen for patients.The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and Gennova Biopharmaceuticals last week announced a new agreement to advance the development of Gennova’s self-amplifying mRNA platform to create vaccine candidates against unknown pathogenic threats with pandemic potential. The funding will support the optimization and production of the platform technology and then the production of a vaccine candidate for preclinical studies against a known virus, rabies, to assess the new technology. This will hopefully lead to the development of novel RNA vaccines, which could offer significant advantages over existing mRNA vaccine platform technologies.

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. Scientists have discovered that a naturally occurring strain of bacteria could help reduce the transmission of malaria by stopping the development of parasites in a mosquito’s gut. The bacteria, TC1, was found by chance when GSK scientists noticed that one of their mosquito colonies had stopped becoming infected with malaria parasites and later identified TC1 as the cause. Researchers have since observed that the bacteria works by secreting a small molecule, called harmane, which inhibits the parasite’s growth and that can be ingested by mosquitoes if mixed with sugar or absorbed by contact, opening the possibility for it to be used as an abatement tool. A recent study found that the bacteria can reduce a mosquito’s parasitic load by up to 73 percent, and trials in Burkina Faso are ongoing to assess the intervention’s effectiveness and safety in real-world settings.An international team of researchers has identified a genetic variant among some people of African ancestry that is associated with them having naturally lower viral loads of HIV—thereby slowing their illness progression and lowering the risk of them transmitting the virus. According to the researchers, this is the first new genetic variant related to HIV infection discovered within the last nearly 30 years. Between 4 to 13 percent of people of African origin are thought to carry this variant, which was discovered through an analysis of the DNA of almost 4,000 people of African ancestry infected with HIV-1. The scientists now intend to continue studies to more fully understand how exactly this variant impacts HIV replication.Health experts are warning that dengue poses a danger to pregnant women, as new research has found that the disease can cause serious health complications for both mothers and their unborn babies. A recent study from the University of Surrey found that mild infection can make a pregnant individual 77 percent more likely to give birth before 32 weeks and can more than double the risk of the child being born with extremely low birth weight, which can affect brain development. This work builds on prior research that found pregnant women are three to four times more likely to die after becoming infected and 450 times more likely if their infection progresses into dengue hemorrhagic fever. There are currently no specific treatments for dengue, and existing vaccines are not recommended for pregnant women.

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. Last week, the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership (GARDP) and Bugworks announced an agreement to accelerate the development of a broad-spectrum antibiotic compound, BWC0977, which has shown potential in treating patients with serious infections caused by pathogens that have become increasingly hard to treat due to growing antibiotic resistance to multiple classes of drugs. GARDP has agreed to invest up to $20 million for further clinical and pharmaceutical development. If the antibiotic is ultimately approved, Bugworks plans to launch it in the United States, the European Union, Japan, and China, while GARDP will manufacture and commercialize the compound in 148 countries, including nearly all low- and middle-income countries, with both partners emphasizing their hope to ensure rapid access and appropriate use in high-burden countries like India and South Africa, where access to novel antibiotics is often limited. Promising results from a phase 2a trial of a broad-spectrum influenza vaccine candidate were published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases last week. The trial, which tested the biopharmaceutical company Osivax’s candidate vaccine OVX836 at various doses in 137 healthy adult subjects, found that it was safe and immunogenic at all dose levels tested, warranting further testing in larger phase 2b and 3 trials. The vaccine, which fits the universal influenza target product profile set by the US National Institutes of Health, could be a promising new tool to address influenza if further tests continue to confirm its potential.New research found that a novel mRNA-based malaria vaccine, which takes a unique approach by using an ingredient developed to boost the immune response to cancer, was effective in mouse models. The novel vaccine generated an immune response in mouse models, prevented infection with one form of the Plasmodium parasite, and unlike many other malaria vaccines, proved effective in animals that had already been exposed to malaria, underscoring the potential of this tool in malaria-endemic regions. While this research is still in very early stages, scientists plan to next test the vaccine in humanized mouse models and hope to be able to advance to clinical trials in the coming years.