Research Roundup: Funding global health R&D, the neglected disease pipeline, Ebola vaccines, FDA approvals, and more

With only a few weeks left in session, lawmakers must decide what to prioritize and what to push off. Photo: Photo Phiend After a five week recess, members of Congress returned to their Capitol Hill offices on Tuesday night. Staffers who had enjoyed the brief freedom of wearing jeans to work returned to their suits, and lobbyists and constituents alike returned to waiting in long security lines to enter Congressional offices. With only a few weeks left in session before they hit the campaign trail, lawmakers must decide what to prioritize and what to push off. Here is what we expect Congress may address before session end. Keeping the government open Passing legislation to keep the government funded past September 30th is a top priority for Congress. Given the wrath lawmakers faced following last year’s government shutdown and the looming mid-term elections, it seems almost certain that policy makers will come to a short-term solution to keep the government open. Earlier this week, Chairman Hal Rogers of the House Appropriations Committee offered a stop-gap spending bill that would fund the government through December 11th. Finding funds to fight Ebola Lawmakers appear to be coming together to support additional funding to meet the needs of the Ebola crisis. Last month, the President requested an additional $88 million to bring much needed drugs and supplies to the West African countries ravaged by this deadly disease, and Chairman Rodgers has indicated that the full $88 million will be included in the House version of the continuing resolution (CR). A summary of this CR put out by the House Appropriations Committee notes that this funding will be used to “accelerate [Department of Health and Human Services’] research on Ebola therapies, and additional funding for the [Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC)] response to the growing outbreak in Africa.” Chairman Rodger’s budget is in line with the current budget cap of $1.012 trillion and would maintain current spending levels. Also included in the GOP-backed bill is $85.1 billion for overseas contingency funding, an extension of the Export-Import Bank through June 2015, and an extension of the Internet Tax Freedom Act through the CR. Strong language supporting global health R&D was included in many of this year's appropriations report, but will it make it into a more long-term budget deal? Caption Photo: PATH/Gabe Bienczycki Dealing with uncertainty GHTC is hopeful that we will not face another government shutdown—we know that funding for research and development (R&D) is best leveraged when there is consistent and certain financial support. Another short-term CR will continue to undermine potential game-changing discoveries and, as detailed in GHTC’s 2014 Policy Report, make planning for the future nearly impossible. Congress bucking at the traditional appropriations process also means uncertainty around what, if any, committee report language will be included in a more long-term budget deal. In previous blogs, GHTC reported on the strong language in support of global health R&D that was included in many of this year’s appropriations bills, including those put out by the subcommittees on Labor, Health and Human Services, Department of Defense, and State and Foreign Operations. We hope this language will be included in whatever final agreement takes place. While House and Senate fiscal year (FY) 2015 appropriators showed only lukewarm support in their funding for global health R&D, some accounts—like those for the National Institutes of Health and CDC’s Center for Global Health—saw funding requests from the Senate that were above both FY 2014 funding and White House requests. A CR means these recommendations for funding increases will continue to be put off. Preventing “the lamest lame-duck” With pending mid-term elections, it’s difficult to predict what this lame-duck session will bring. While Politico is already predicting that this will be the “lamest lame-duck session,” there are a number of common-sense, no-cost bills that Congress could and should pass before the end of the 113th session. The 21st Century Global Health Technology Act, a bill which establishes the US Agency for International Development’s mandate for global health R&D, as well as improves agency coordination, transparency, and reporting would be an easy way for Congress to leverage existing funds and programs without creating any additional spending. Additionally, the Patents for Humanity Program Improvement Act of 2013 would make it easier for American researchers to develop solutions to the world’s most pressing health issues and incentivize first-time researchers to apply their work towards addressing humanitarian needs. While preventing another government shutdown is a step in the right direction, we hope lawmakers will take seriously the need for longer-term solutions. With three months left in the 113th Congress, it’s time to get down to business.

In this post, Eoghan Walsh—communications officer at Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevoelkerung (DSW)—writes about the need for Europe to increase financial and political support for efforts aimed at creating new ways to tackle diseases such as HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria. This post originally appeared on the DSW blog on September 4. Support for global health is at the core of DSW’s advocacy work. One of the four focus areas for the organization is to have global health policies and financing include and support sexual and reproductive health and rights. We recognize at DSW the urgent need to improve the global health situation, and we continue to advocate for health improvements in low- and middle-income countries. As part of this work, we are launching a series of policy briefs on the issue of global health research and development (R&D), outlining why we need to increase financial and political support (in Europe) for efforts aimed at creating new ways to tackle diseases such as HIV and AIDS, TB, and malaria. Download the new infographic on European investment in poverty-related and neglected tropical diseases now!   R&D for PRNDs A crucial element of European investment in global health is support for the development and distribution of innovative new interventions to tackle head-on diseases that affect a huge number of people living in low- and middle-income countries. Poverty-related and neglected tropical diseases (PRNDs), such as HIV and AIDS, TB and malaria—as well as 17 other infectious diseases identified by the World Health Organization (WHO )—affect more than one billion people around the world, causing 6 million deaths annually. 90/10 gap Because these diseases affect people living in some of the world’s poorest countries, for many years there has been insufficient investment in R&D aimed at addressing and eradicating these diseases as the private sector has not seen a market interest in developing new medicines and treatments. It is estimated that, overall, only 10 percent of the world’s resources for health research are directed at diseases that affect the poorest 90 percent of the world’s population. Return on investment for Europe It is because of this “90/10” gap that we work for increased political and financial support to global health R&D, supporting the creation of modern, effective, affordable, and accessible medical interventions to bring an end to the suffering caused by PRNDs. As part of our new series of policy briefs on global health R&D, today we are launching an infographic—developed in collaboration with Policy Cures—outlining the value for the European Union (EU) in investing in global health R&D, and how funding for global health R&D can have positive economic and health benefits for Europe as well as the rest of the world, and have significant return on investment. Read on and support us as we advocate for an end to these terrible diseases! Did you know? PRNDs account for 361 million years of healthy and productive life lost globally There are no vaccines for HIV or malaria The EU invested €2.1 billion in PRNDs research between 2007-2012 Since 2000, 47 new products aimed at PRNDs have been registered, with over 350 more in the pipeline Infographics provided by DSW.