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. Researchers at Rice University have developed a rapid malaria test that uses laser pulse—eliminating the need to draw blood. The test has been found safe in healthy humans and will soon be tested on humans with malaria symptoms. The White House has nominated Dr. Deborah Birx as the next Global AIDS Coordinator and to lead the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Dr. Birx is currently the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Global AIDS Program and works on PEPFAR implementation at her agency. The US Agency for International Development and GHTC member Population Council have entered into an agreement to develop a non-antiretroviral-based microbicide to block HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. If successful, the partnership could offer a low-risk, easily accessible product for women in low- and middle-income countries. According to the results of an early-stage clinical trial, patients with multi-drug resistant (MDR) or extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis (TB) could be treated by using stem cells taken from their own bone marrow. If successful, the treatment could be an alternative for patients with MDR- or XDR-TB who do not respond to conventional drug treatment options.

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. At the annual Grand Challenges meeting in Brazil this month, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a new partnership with pharmaceutical companies to accelerate vaccine research and development (R&D). For the first project, the Gates Foundation will partner with GlaxoSmithKline on early-stage research for vaccine thermostability. According to studies published in Nature, a potential new HIV treatment has a "profound and unprecedented" impact on the virus. The trials were performed by Harvard Medical School and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. GHTC member Treatment Action Group released a new report on tuberculosis (TB) research funding. The report finds that after seven years of slow and unsteady increases in funding, TB R&D investors reported a drop in spending in 2012 that threatens to undermine the tenuous gains made since 2005. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention released a report stating that the number of malaria cases in the United States is at the highest level in forty years. Nearly all the cases were Americans or foreign travelers bringing it into the country. About two-thirds were infected in Africa, where malaria is common. A new analysis published in The Lancet Global Health found that only 37—or four percent—of the 850 drugs and vaccines registered from 2000 to 2011 were for neglected diseases. The study also found that just 1 percent of existing clinical trials are for the development of tools for neglected diseases.

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. The National Institutes of Health has released a fact sheet on the impact of sequestration. The fact sheet states that, due to budget cuts, approximately 700 fewer research project grants will be awarded this year compared to fiscal year 2012. New statistics show that the vaccine MenAfriVac™—developed through a partnership between the World Health Organization and PATH—has significantly reduced the number of cases of meningitis A in Africa. The most recent meningitis season marks the lowest number of cases in ten years. Scientists at Virginia Tech and the University of Florida are making progress in developing a new species-specific insecticide that would be lethal only to insects that carry malaria. Though they have seen positive results, the scientists still think it will be four to five years before they are ready to submit the compound for federal approval. Drugmakers in Japan have agreed to release data on experimental compounds for possible use to create drugs to combat malaria, tuberculosis, and neglected tropical diseases. The pharmaceutical companies are part of a five-year partnership called the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund.

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. Marking the 10th anniversary of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), US Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Eric Goosby, and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, write about how scientific innovation has played an important role in the successes of PEPFAR over the last decade. New resources from the Kaiser Family Foundation analyze the President’s fiscal year 2014 budget request and the funding implications for global health and HIV and AIDS. Member States at the 66th World Health Assembly approved the Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development (R&D): Financing and Coordination resolution that would establish a global health R&D observatory, set up demonstration projects, and develop norms and standards to better collect data on health R&D. GHTC member Aeras has launched a short film series called EXPOSED bringing attention to the global tuberculosis epidemic and the need for new tools to prevent this airborne disease’s spread.