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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.Last week, Indian drug company Cipla confirmed that a generic version of the HIV prophylaxis long-acting cabotegravir (CAB-LA) will be manufactured at its plants in South Africa for the first time, which could potentially offer millions of people at risk of HIV infection in Africa access to the groundbreaking drug. CAB-LA is a two-monthly jab that is easier to take regularly and has also been found to work better than the daily HIV prevention pill, which is currently available for free in South Africa and several other countries on the continent. The introduction of generic manufacturers into the market for HIV drugs has the potential to dramatically reduce medicine prices, which are often out of reach for low- and middle-income countries, even at prices discounted by the manufacturers that hold the original patents.IAVI and Zendal Group’s subsidiary Biofabri have signed an expanded deal to develop MTBVAC, the only live, attenuated mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) vaccine in the pipeline. The developers are targeting the vaccine for use in adults and adolescents and are aiming for the candidate to be more effective and potentially longer lasting than the bacillus Calmette-Guérin, or BCG, vaccine that is currently in use to prevent TB in newborns. IAVI is planning to commence a trial for the MTBVAC in 2024 after sufficient funding is secured. The deal also includes support for advancing MTBVAC for infants following Biofabri commencing a phase 3 trial of MTBVAC in neonates last year.Last week, the US National Institutes of Health announced that they are beginning to enroll patients in an early-stage clinical trial testing an mRNA universal flu vaccine that is aimed at protecting against a wide variety of strains of the flu and providing long-term immunity. The shot, designed by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, will test whether the shot is safe and produces an immune response in 50 healthy adult volunteers. If proved to be safe and effective, a universal flu vaccine could eliminate the need for scientists and vaccine manufacturers to predict the dominant flu strain and produce shots in advance of prime flu season, as well as reduce the risk of illness and hospitalization, particularly when the shots available are not well matched to the dominant circulating strains.

The Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) welcomes commitments by G7 nations to advancing health research and development (R&D) included in the G7 Hiroshima Leaders’ Communiqué. R&D has long been the bedrock of progress in global health—from driving the near eradication of polio to dramatically extending the lives of those living with HIV/AIDS to changing the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet sustained commitment is needed to deliver next generation innovations for enduring and emerging threats that are affordable and accessible to all people worldwide.That is why we are pleased to see G7 leaders reiterate support for strengthening the R&D of medical countermeasures (MCMs)—in line with the 100 Days Mission to reduce the impact of future pandemics by developing MCMs within 100 days—and commit to enhancing equitable access to MCMs by supporting diversified manufacturing and the launch of a new MCM delivery partnership. We also welcome their acknowledgement of the need to increase contributions to the World Bank Pandemic Fund and advance a new surge financing framework for future pandemics, both of which are urgently needed to unlock resources to strengthen R&D capacities in low- and middle-income countries and advance a sustainable end-to-end MCM R&D ecosystem. Given the setbacks in global health caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the rising threat of antimicrobial resistance, we are also encouraged to see leaders commit to spearheading research to tackle enduring challenges like HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and neglected tropical diseases and implementing push and pull incentives to accelerate the R&D of antimicrobials.While we applaud G7 leaders for this timely recognition of the critical role of R&D in driving global health progress and preventing pandemics, we now call on them to match this rhetoric with tangible policies and financial pledges to translate these commitments into reality.