Breakthroughs Blog: Research Roundup

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. During a meeting last week at the United Kingdom’s Royal Society of Medicine, the topic of health research was raised and how it might fit into the post-2015 development agenda. At the meeting, UK Department for International Development Chief Scientific Officer Chris Whitty spoke about the necessity of forward thinking as it relates to global health research. Whitty acknowledged the need to think ahead to what research will be needed from 2020-2040 so that priorities are defined by what the global public health world might look like in the future. Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline plans to invest up to £130 million in Africa over the next five years to build the continent’s capacity to develop new tools to combat the region’s rising occurrence of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). New money will go to expanding manufacturing capacity in specific African countries, as well as open the world’s first open-access research and development laboratory for NCDs in Africa. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank, and other donors will invest $240 million to fight neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in low- and middle-income countries. The new funding comes after a pledge by 13 drugmakers two years ago to donate medicines to treat ten NTDs, including river blindness, Guinea worm, and sleeping sickness. Dr. Deborah Birx has been confirmed by the Senate to be the next Global AIDS Coordinator, filling the post to lead the world’s largest health program. Widely praised by global health advocates, Dr. Birx previously led efforts to introduce the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief-sponsored rollout of life-saving HIV treatments to certain sites in Africa, and launched the first clinical research trials to show proof of concept that an HIV-preventing vaccine was possible.

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. This week, the White House released President Obama’s much-anticipated budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2015. The budget request has mixed results for federal agencies that conduct global health research—including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense, the US Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Pharmaceutical company Janssen announced that SIRTURO® (bedaquiline)—a new drug for the treatment of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (TB)—has been granted conditional approval by the European Commission. The drug was approved for use as part of an appropriate combination regimen for pulmonary multi-drug resistant TB in adult patients. USAID has released its 2013 report to Congress—Health-Related Research and Development Progress Report. The report provides an update on the agency’s global health research and development (R&D) portfolio, specifically highlighting certain technologies and disease areas. The Kaiser Family Foundation has pulled together several news sources reports on research findings presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections taking place in Boston this week.

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. A new report sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation examines the need for post-market surveillance for new drugs and vaccines in low- and middle-income countries. The report is based off the findings from the Safety Surveillance Working Group, and provides recommendations stakeholders should take to strengthen post-market surveillance of global health products. The University of South Florida’s Center for Drug Development and Innovation, and the College of Public Health’s Department of Global Health have been awarded a grant of $2.1 million from the National Institutes of Health. The focus of the research will be to see how parasites, like malaria, grow. At a recent event in Washington, DC, US Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Rajiv Shah underscored the agency’s commitment to public-private partnerships. According to Devex, 40 percent of USAID’s resources are programmed through public-private partnerships. New studies show that patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) and HIV and AIDS have a higher chance of living if they take simultaneous treatment for both diseases, as oppose to waiting to take HIV and AIDS treatment. The initial study was small in size, but concurs with three previous major studies of people with regular TB and HIV and AIDS.

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. The University of Dundee in Scotland has developed a new antimalarial compound in their Drug Discovery Unit that has been selected by GHTC member Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) for further preclinical development. According to Dr. Kevin Read, co-project leader at University of Dundee, the compound will now undergo scale-up and further testing with the goal of entering human clinical trials in the next 18 months. In a Q&A, PATH Technology Solutions Program Leader Anurag Mairal writes about product development and distribution challenges in global health. Mairal writes: “The biggest challenge with all of these great innovations is that they’re sometimes disconnected from the realities of what is needed on the ground in low-resource settings. The hurdles that innovative ideas face before they can become a sustainable global health solution are many.” The US government has launched a new initiative to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats around the world. The initiative aims to improve security at infectious disease laboratories, strengthen immunization programs, and set up emergency response centers to deal with outbreaks. The Lancet writes about the progress made in the tuberculosis drug pipeline, and the implications for future treatments against the disease. The author notes that while recent developments have been very promising, the health of the pipeline rests in nine candidates—all of which are still in preclinical development.