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At next month’s G7 Health Ministers meeting, G7 leaders will be considering political commitments that could impact the health and well-being of millions of people around the world. As G7 nations consider reforms to realize a more fit-for-purpose global health architecture, GHTC urges them to prioritize the following actions to strengthen research and development (R&D):Advance the “100 Days Mission PLUS,” which aims to reduce the impact of future pandemics by developing and making medical countermeasures available within 100 days. To achieve this, G7 nations should strongly invest in the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, FIND, public health institutes, and regional manufacturing hubs, as well as scope and develop an international clinical trials network for coordinated testing and enhanced global regulatory collaboration.Fully fund the World Bank’s Pandemic Fund. To date, the fund has secured just US$1.6 billion in pledges against its $10.5 annual target. G7 leaders should also ensure the fund invests in projects to strengthen laboratory, clinical research, and regulatory capacity to advance the development of and access to health technologies, work that is complementary to that of other international health initiatives.Increase investment in R&D for poverty-related and neglected diseases (PRNDs). The pandemic has diverted critical resources and attention away from battles against long-standing global health challenges like HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, and neglected tropical diseases. To reinvigorate these fights, G7 nations should boost funding and incentives for PRND R&D and support product development partnerships, which are uniquely equipped to advance technologies that are affordable, accessible, and adapted to the communities who need them. Center the needs of women, children, and other vulnerable populations in R&D. This includes expanding the activities of the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council, as well as enacting policies to improve the collection and analysis of sex- and gender-disaggregated data and ensuring adequate representation of women, pregnant or lactating individuals, and other underrepresented populations in clinical trials. G7 nations should also work with the World Health Organization to develop target product profiles to advance therapeutic formulations for children, pregnant individuals, and other at-risk populations.Re-prioritize R&D to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR). G7 countries have demonstrated past leadership on AMR research through support of the Global AMR R&D Hub. G7 nations should build on this by continuing to support hub operations and increasing investments and incentives for R&D for new and improved antimicrobials, point-of-care diagnostic devices, vaccines, and other technologies required to stay ahead of this rising threat. Integrate R&D into pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response mechanisms. As negotiations continue on the pandemic accord and reforms to the International Health Regulations, G7 nations should push for the accord to embrace a holistic approach to supporting end-to-end product development and for the International Health Regulations to include new amendments to promote R&D coordination and genetic sequence sharing and new indicators to assess R&D capabilities at the country level.GHTC hopes that commitments made at this year’s G7 will take us one step closer to realizing a more resilient and equitable R&D ecosystem capable of delivering the tools needed to confront long-standing and emerging health threats.

GHTC sent letters to House and Senate appropriations subcommittees: the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS); the Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (SFOPS); and the Subcommittee on Defense, urging these subcommittees to sustain and protect global health research and development funding in the fiscal year 2024 (FY24) budget.Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human  

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.The World Health Organization (WHO) recently warned about the limited pipeline of new antibiotics for drug-resistant bacteria in a report based on a review published by WHO in 2022. The report found that only 12 new antibiotics entered the market between 2017 and 2021. Additionally, the report found that although 27 experimental antibiotics for critical bacterial infections are in clinical development, only 6 of those are considered different enough from existing antibiotics to potentially be used against drug-resistant pathogens without concern. Without a steady stream of novel antibiotics entering the pipeline and market, bacterial infections will become increasingly dangerous as bacteria continues to develop resistance to existing drugs.A new study from researchers at HDT Bio found that a new type of RNA vaccine against HIV and the Zika virus generated strong antibody responses in pregnant rabbits and their offspring. More studies will be necessary to confirm that vaccinating the mother alone is enough to protect against infection in the offspring, as well as to optimize vaccination timing and to see if the results can translate to humans. If successful, the vaccine could be an important tool in preventing mother-to-child transmission of these viruses and reducing the disease burden in newborns.A new study from researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, supported by the US National Institutes of Health, found that HIV can persist in myeloid cells, a subset of white blood cells, in people who have been virally suppressed for years through antiretroviral therapy. The researchers emphasized that these findings challenge the long-held idea that these cells are short-lived, proving instead that these cells may contribute to an HIV reservoir and could be an important target in the development of a cure. Larger studies with more diverse participant pools will be needed to identify the proportion of people who show latent HIV in myeloid cells, as well as the mechanisms that replenish this reservoir over time.