News: Announcement

Today’s Global Health Summit was a moment to address the ongoing urgent needs to combat COVID-19, reflect on the lessons learned over the past year, and start the process of laying out a tangible road map for addressing not just the current pandemic, but the systemic inequities and challenges in the global health ecosystem that have been exposed and exacerbated by COVID-19. World leaders developed a set of principles through the Rome Declaration, which is set to guide the ongoing discussions in various multilateral fora and provide the foundation around which partners will engage in the coming months.GHTC welcomes the research-related commitments in the declaration, especially the call by G20 leaders to “invest predictably, effectively and adequately, in line with national capacities, in domestic, international and multilateral cooperation in research, development, and innovation, for health systems tools and non-pharmaceutical measures, considering issues of scalability, access, and manufacturing from an early stage.”We support the pledge by G20 leaders to support low- and middle-income countries to build expertise and develop local and regional manufacturing capacities for medical countermeasures. We are also pleased to see the declaration call for an expansion of international financial institution mandates to provide investment in country preparedness capacity, which we believe could provide new, sustainable, and catalytic funding for vital research capabilities, including laboratory infrastructure, clinical trial networks, workforce development, and surveillance and pathogen sharing platforms to low- and middle-income countries.While the Rome Declaration includes some high-level priority guidelines for how research and development (R&D) fits into the ongoing global health security reform discussions, it is disappointing to see research not be enshrined more explicitly as a central pillar of preparedness or as a missing element of the International Health Regulations and other global frameworks. While outlining the need for more R&D investment and coordination is a good start, GHTC would have welcomed a more substantial call for developing clear coordination mechanisms to assess R&D capacity gaps, as well as specific pathways for how G20 leaders will seek to boost manufacturing capacity in low- and middle-income countries. The recent Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response report highlighted more concrete recommendations on possible models and frameworks, and we hope that G20 leaders will start to delve into the details and build tangible proposals for advancing global health security that include R&D as a fundamental element.The time has come to move from declaration to action. We look forward to further engagement by G20 countries and other stakeholders at next week’s World Health Assembly to start to define the intricacies of new frameworks and reform efforts to the global health architecture, and hope that R&D more concretely factors in as a key element of health preparedness.

At this week’s World Health Organization (WHO) inaugural forum with non-state actors, WHO, its member states, and civil society will be discussing reforms that could be spearheaded through the forthcoming World Health Assembly to better confront COVID-19 and future health threats, drive progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, and shore up sustainable financing for the institution.As WHO member states consider the broader concerns of civil society, GHTC urges them to prioritize the following actions to bolster research and development (R&D) to defeat COVID-19, combat other long-standing and emerging threats, and build resilient health systems: Ensure the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) is fully funded. ACT-A is facing a US$22.1 billion shortfall in funding for 2021 to realize its mission to develop and equitably deliver COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, tests, and other tools worldwide. This includes $8.7 billion for diagnostics, $3.2 billion for therapeutics, $3.2 billion for vaccines, and $7.3 billion for the health systems connector pillar.Integrate R&D into the International Health Regulations (IHR) and any future pandemic treaty that bolsters the framework. As conversations around WHO reform continue, member states should include R&D capacity indicators within IHR implementation and ensure that a potential pandemic treaty creates concrete mechanisms that support countries in strengthening their R&D and manufacturing capabilities and address some of the R&D coordination challenges encountered in the early days of the pandemic.  Provide more sustainable, predictable funding to WHO so it is adequately resourced to assess new health technologies and drive their uptake. Additional funding should be allocated to the WHO Science Division and the prequalification program to support and accelerate their vital normative activities to evaluate technologies and provide guidance to countries on their use. These funds should also provide greater support for the WHO Global Observatory on Health R&D to ensure its data is more effectively leveraged for assessing country and regional research capacity. Sustain robust investments in R&D for long-standing global health challenges. The pandemic has eroded global progress against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other poverty-related and neglected diseases and disrupted research efforts. To regain lost ground, member states must recommit to making strong sustained R&D investments and incentivize public-private partnerships to advance end-to-end product development of affordable, accessible tools. It is GHTC’s hope that WHO, member states, and civil society can come together to use this forum to help chart a new path and seize this moment to strengthen the global response to the current pandemic and other ongoing health threats.

At this week’s G20 Health Working Group meeting, G20 nations will be setting priorities that will have enormous implications for our ability to bring an end to the COVID-19 pandemic and address other emerging and enduring health crises. This pandemic has shown with devastating clarity how vital the research and development (R&D) of health technologies is to confront global health challenges. But it has also laid bare the inadequacies of our current international structures and systems for supporting R&D and ensuring affordable, equitable global access to resulting tools. As G20 health leaders meet this Thursday and Friday, GHTC urges them to prioritize the following actions to bolster R&D to defeat COVID-19, mitigate its impacts, and combat other long-standing and emerging threats: Ensure the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A) and Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) are fully funded. ACT-A is facing a US$22.1 billion shortfall in funding for 2021 to realize its mission to develop and equitably deliver COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, tests, and other tools worldwide. Alongside its ACT-A work, CEPI is pursuing a boldly transformative initiative to speed vaccine development for epidemic-risk diseases to just 100 days and bolster manufacturing, for which it requires $3.5 billion in replenishment funding. Unlock sustainable financing for global health innovation by making R&D investments eligible for financing from the World Bank and other international financial institutions and creating new financial mechanisms for pandemic preparedness. Unlocking this capital would support low- and middle-income countries in securing new resources to strengthen their research, laboratory, surveillance, and manufacturing capabilities. Incorporate R&D into existing multilateral policy frameworks to help countries assess and strengthen their R&D capabilities. G20 members should push for the inclusion of R&D capacity indicators within the implementation of the International Health Regulations and support integration of R&D into the Global Health Security Agenda framework. Prioritize investments in R&D to fight the silent pandemic of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). To address the precariously thinning pipeline of antimicrobial innovations, G20 nations must directly invest in R&D for new tools to combat priority AMR threats including hospital-acquired infections and drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), malaria, and HIV, as well as support collaborative international research efforts like the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership, the AMR Action Fund, and the Global AMR R&D Hub. Sustain robust investments in R&D for long-standing global health challenges. The pandemic has eroded global progress against HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria, and other poverty-related and neglected diseases and disrupted research efforts. To regain lost ground, G20 nations must recommit to making strong sustained R&D investments and incentivize public-private partnerships to advance end-to-end product development for affordable, accessible tools. It is GHTC’s hope that G20 leaders will seize this moment to radically reimagine a future where health R&D and health equity are enshrined as top political priorities for the world.  To view more details on GHTC’s recommendations for G20 leaders, click here. 

The U.S. Congress and Biden-Harris administration have a clear opportunity to supercharge global health research and development (R&D) in the wake of a pandemic that has revealed both the sector’s chronic neglect and amazing potential, according to a detailed agency-by-agency action plan released today by the nonprofit Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC).  “The same core capabilities instrumental to defeating COVID-19 can also defeat diseases that have plagued humanity for generations—such as AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and Ebola—while targeting emerging pathogens of pandemic potential,” said GHTC Director Jamie Bay Nishi. “Developing vaccines in such record-breaking time is, in reality, the product of decades of R&D investments. With smart funding and policy decisions, this foundation can generate a new era of innovations that will protect the health of millions of Americans and billions of people around the world.”The report breaks down the individual and often less-appreciated engines of the U.S. global health R&D enterprise—including critical initiatives within the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)—to identify specific actions across the government that can channel President Biden’s promise to lead with science and international cooperation, to realize the promise of R&D for global health. It notes that such investments produce more than just health benefits. They also have a strong track record of creating hundreds of thousands of jobs across the United States and tens of billions of dollars in economic benefits. Meanwhile, the assessment reveals how the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines is directly connected to work on other global health threats: the Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses a similar approach as the company’s Ebola vaccine; the Moderna platform was previously being developed for candidates against other respiratory viruses and chikungunya; and the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine is based on technology from malaria vaccine research. But the report warns that today, global health R&D hangs in the balance between “broad setback and inspiring possibility.” It notes how the demands of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the enormous value of investing in global heath innovations, while at the same time it has diverted resources and personnel from the battle against many other threats. GHTC’s prescription for rejuvenating global health R&D includes:Doubling support for global health programs at USAID and setting minimum funding targets for R&D within these increases, establishing a new position—chief science and product development officer—within the agency, and funding a new $200 million USAID Grand Challenge for global health security. The report notes that USAID is the “only U.S. agency with a mandate to focus on global health and development.” Yet despite USAID’s strong track record in delivering high-impact health innovations and an extensive network of partnerships, GHTC found that the agency’s unique capabilities have been underutilized and underfunded as part of the U.S. government’s COVID-19 response.Increasing funding for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), particularly for its Center for Global Health, the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, and the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination and its Tuberculosis Trials Consortium. The report notes these programs have been “operating on tight and relatively stagnant budgets” and that the fight against COVID-19 compounded the problem by diverting resources and expertise. Meanwhile, the analysis points to the need to revitalize CDC’s global health work as part of the broader effort to rebuild an agency that was “politicized and undermined” during the COVID-19 response.New, targeted funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), including more support for product development and translational research for areas lacking commercial interest and steady funding increases for the Fogarty International Center alongside sustained growth for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Office of AIDS Research. The report points out that NIH’s high-profile work in confronting COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of past investments that have provided the “building blocks of future drugs, vaccines and diagnostics.” But it also warns that the pandemic has stymied non-COVID-19 work, “leading to urgent requests for relief.”Establishing a permanent funding line at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), supported by at least $300 million annually, to support work on emerging infectious diseases, antimicrobial resistance (including drug-resistant tuberculosis or TB), and pandemic influenza. The report finds that, despite its proven value in dealing with a range of threats, BARDA has been overly reliant on “one-off” emergency supplemental appropriations in response to epidemic crises, leading to gaps in its portfolio. For example, BARDA is not involved in research on drug-resistant TB, even though experts have warned that it’s a major health security threat to the United States. Working with the executive office of the president to create much tighter coordination for US-funded global health work. The report calls on the White House to elevate the importance of global health R&D in achieving social justice priorities and to ensure USAID is involved in high-level advisory bodies on the pandemic response. The report found that USAID, despite its significant global footprint, was largely excluded from White House pandemic response efforts in 2020. But GHTC notes that USAID’s expertise and partnerships around the world will be essential for achieving the global pandemic response envisioned by the Biden-Harris administration.Protecting malaria and other parasitic disease work along with TB and antimicrobial research supported by the Department of Defense (DoD). The report pushes back against recent DoD moves to eliminate malaria research programs, noting that such cuts would scuttle decades of progress achieved via research at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the Naval Medical Research Center. GHTC calls on Congress to consider protecting DoD work on malaria—which it notes remains a considerable threat to U.S. troops deployed abroad—with a dedicated funding line. Meanwhile, the report views increased funding for DoD’s efforts to develop new treatments for antimicrobial-resistant pathogens as essential to “strengthening global health security by preventing a post-antibiotic era.”Increasing support for key multilateral initiatives, such as the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). GHTC believes joining CEPI and committing at least $200 million annually would provide a much-needed boost to an initiative dedicated to developing vaccines against epidemic threats and making them globally accessible. GHTC also seeks a greater role for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in working alongside the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide technical support to under-resourced regulatory authorities that would accelerate access to a range of biomedical advances. GHTC’s analysis finds that by embracing a strong action plan for global health R&D, decisionmakers in Congress and the Biden-Harris administration can seize on the possibilities revealed by the work to defeat COVID-19 to launch a new, stronger era of research for neglected and emerging infectious diseases. “Never has a single disease demonstrated what can be accomplished in so little time with the full resources and focus of the U.S. government,” it concludes. “Scientific milestones to defeat many of our world’s toughest global health challenges are within sight, and with strong funding and smart policy, these milestones can be reached.”For more information, please contact: Katy Lenard at klenard@burness.com or +1 301-280-5719