A report from GHTC and Policy Cures Research examines how US federal funding for global health R&D is delivering impact both abroad and at home.

Search the GHTC website

Research Roundup: Intellectual property awards, FDA priorities, Australia R&D, and more

Read time:
PATH/Heng Chivoan

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week.

October 5, 2014 by Nick Taylor

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week.

GHTC member PATH—along with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Serum Institute of India (SII)—will receive a national award for this year’s most outstanding intellectual property licensing deal for the group’s technology transfer of the MenAfriVac™ vaccine—a low-cost meningitis vaccine specifically developed for people in sub-Saharan Africa. The 2014 Deal of Distinction Award—which recognizes excellence in licensing deals—will be presented to the group by the Licensing Executives Society at its annual meeting in early October.

In a recent FDA Voice blog post, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg writes about FDA’s new strategic priorities. Given that the FDA continues to expand its global reach, and that nearly 40 percent of medicines Americans consume are developed outside the United States, the agency has established five strategic priorities: regulatory science, globalization, safety and quality, smart regulation, and stewardship.

Policy Cures writes in their monthly update, RADAR, about recent news on global health research and development in Australia. Australia has committed AUD$30 million in annual funding to health research for development—including $10 million for product development partnerships. Five million dollars of funding could also be used for a health innovation fund (possibly a Grand Challenges Australia).

As the Ebola outbreak in West Africa continues, the Center for Global Development looks at ways to find a cure for this deadly disease. They argue that two things are needed: cost-effective thresholds for investments in global health, and an Advance Market Commitment to accelerate the development of new vaccines for Ebola and other neglected diseases.

Categories: Research Roundup, Vaccines

About the author

Nick TaylorGHTC

Nick Taylor is a senior program assistant at GHTC, where he supports GHTS communications and member engagement activities.

Other Breakthroughs Blog posts you may like:
PATH/Aaron Joel Santos
October 14, 2014

Research Roundup: hookworm vaccine trial, Grand Challenges turns ten, NIH funding for Ebola and more

Written by Nick Taylor / GHTC
Read time:
In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. The first vaccine against hookworm has been shown to be safe in clinical trials in Brazil, according to researchers from the Sabin Vaccine Institute Product Development Partnership who led the trial. The vaccine—which was developed by the HOOKVAC consortium—was well tolerated by 102 healthy volunteers, and blood tests indicated they developed an immune response. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenges in Global Health program celebrated its 10th anniversary recently. The Economist takes a look at the past ten years and discusses the program’s successes, disappointments, and what its future holds. In an interview with the Huffington Post, Dr. Francis Collins—director of the National Institutes of Health— said that a vaccine for Ebola would likely have been discovered were it not for budget cuts experienced by the agency. "Frankly, if we had not gone through our 10-year slide in research support, we probably would have had a vaccine in time for this that would've gone through clinical trials and would have been ready,” said Collins. The BMJ blog looked at the challenge countries face in accessing lifesaving drugs and vaccines as they shift from classification as low-income countries to middle-income countries (MICs). Due to tiered pricing structure and market segmentation plans implemented by pharmaceutical companies and aid organizations, as a country enters the MIC tier, it often is excluded from access to the lowest priced medicines and vaccines.
PATH/Satvir Malhotra
September 30, 2014

Research Roundup: R&D in the post-2015 agenda, TB vaccines, the Global Innovation Fund, intellectual property,...

Written by Nick Taylor / GHTC
Read time:
In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. In a new paper—developed by the Council on Health Research for Development, GHTC, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, and PATH—the authors make the case for the inclusion of research and innovation for health as a central component of the post-2015 development agenda. The paper describes the impact that increased investments in R&D and innovation for health—particularly for the world’s poorest—have had in contributing to progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)—particularly for MDGs 4 (reduce child mortality), 5 (improve maternal health), and 6 (combat HIV and AIDS, malaria, and other diseases). In a recent special report from the Global Post, the prominence of public-private partnerships in global health is analyzed as governments laud private sector partners for their expertise and vast resources. However, while most believe public-private partnerships to be highly effective, the Global Post looks into how to quantify their impact given the lack of comprehensive and transparent metrics for evaluation. Last week we at the United Nations General Assembly, the US Agency for International Development, the UK Department for International Development, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the Australian Department for Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Omidyar Network have launched a US$200 million Global Innovation Fund. Grants ranging from $50,000 to $15 million will be available for social enterprises, for-profit businesses, researchers, government agencies, and nonprofits. The Atlantic highlights a recent incident in El Paso, Texas, where a former hospital nursery employee tested positive for tuberculosis (TB), which caused panic and precautionary screenings of more than 700 infants who passed through the nursery over the last year. In addition to demonstrating that Americans are not immune to this diseases, the article also asks why an effective vaccine to prevent TB in the first place has yet to be discovered. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have received national recognition for the “most outstanding intellectual property deal” for MenAfriVac™—a low-cost meningitis vaccine developed specifically for populations in sub-Saharan Africa. The vaccine—developed by GHTC member PATH and the Serum Institute of India—incorporated technology from the FDA, as well as a patent license for a manufacturing process granted by the NIH.