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Interested in more global health innovation news? Every week GHTC scours media reports worldwide to deliver essential global health R&D news and content to your inbox. Sign up now to receive our weekly R&D News Roundup email. Moderna is launching human trials for two new HIV vaccines based on the mRNA technology used in its COVID-19 vaccine, the company announced last week. The phase 1 trial will recruit 56 participants between the ages of 18 and 50 to assess the vaccines’ safety and ability to generate a broad range of neutralizing antibodies against HIV. The two vaccine candidates, mRNA-1644 and mRNA-1574, are designed to combat HIV by inducing broadly neutralizing antibodies to levels not previously obtained by other shots. The antibodies can then target multiple variants of HIV and neutralize stable parts of the virus that won’t change as much as it mutates. The study, expected to run until May 2023, is a first step in a long, complex process, according to researchers.Researchers have discovered a series of drug compounds that are highly effective against the three main species of parasitic worms that cause human schistosomiasis, according to new research published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. Currently, the only treatment for schistosomiasis is praziquantel, which is effective at a high dose against adult worms, but less so against juvenile worms, requiring repeat treatment. The new research involved screening more than 300,000 compounds to evaluate their ability to kill the worms, compared against praziquantel. The researchers identified a series of promising new drug candidates that appeared safe and highly effective against adult and juvenile worms—in a single dose around 10 times smaller than required for praziquantel. The drugs are now being explored by Merck Global Health Institute as a potential treatment for schistosomiasis.In phase 3 trial results, AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 antibody treatment, AZD7442, significantly reduced the risk of developing COVID-19 symptoms. The drug, a combination of two long-acting antibodies, reduced the risk of developing symptoms by 77 percent when given to patients who had not been exposed to COVID-19. No participants who were given the treatment developed a severe form of the disease. The monoclonal antibodies used in AZD7442, which mimic the body's natural immune response, were modified to be more long-lasting, potentially affording up to 12 months of protection. The drug could be particularly useful as a preventative treatment in patients for whom vaccines might be less effective, including immunocompromised individuals, AstraZeneca said in its statement. The company plans to submit the phase 3 results to a peer-reviewed journal and file for regulatory approval of the drug.

GHTC endorses letters from the Global Health Council's Tuberculosis (TB) Roundtable to Senate appropriators urging funding increases for TB programs in the fiscal year funding bills for State and Foreign Operations (SFOPS) and Labor, Health and Human Services (LHHS).

GHTC delivered the following statement on August 18, 2021 at a US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stakeholder listening session on the member state working group on strengthening the World Health Organization’s (WHO) preparedness and response to health emergencies:The Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) appreciates the opportunity to provide feedback to the US government to inform the Member State Working Group on strengthening the World Health Organization’s (WHO) preparedness and response to health emergencies.The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear that there are severe gaps in global health security preparedness across prevention, detection, and response. In particular, the global community has been slow to build—and adequately resource—coordinated mechanisms to develop and deploy the medical countermeasures needed to combat potential health emergencies. No global framework currently exists for assessing and strengthening the capacity of countries to develop, approve, manufacture, and deploy vaccines, treatments, diagnostics, and other health technologies—despite the importance of these tools in mitigating emerging health threats.As deliberations over WHO reform continue, we urge the United States to take the following actions:Prioritize research and development (R&D) capacity strengthening as part of the ongoing International Health Regulations (IHR) implementation discussions. The IHR currently make no mention of research coordination; rapid sharing of genetic information and samples of pathogens of concern; or development of, and equitable access to, medical countermeasures and other innovations needed during emergencies. The IHR framework must include R&D as a central pillar of preparedness.We encourage the United States to continue to work with WHO and other global partners to establish regional manufacturing capacities, including, but not limited to, building on the progress made by the Joint US-EU COVID Manufacturing and Supply Chain Taskforce, the COVAX Supply Chain and Manufacturing Taskforce, Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and WHO’s recent establishment of an mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub in South Africa. It is vital to build on these initiatives to further expand the capacity of low- and middle-income countries to produce COVID-19 vaccines and increase global access to bring the pandemic under control as well as address other emerging and enduring health threats.As highlighted in the recent Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response report, a pandemic framework convention could address gaps in the international response, clarify responsibilities between states and international organizations, and help coordinate R&D to facilitate the sharing of scientific findings and accelerate the development of, and equitable access to, quality-assured and accessible health technologies. As negotiations continue for the special session of the World Health Assembly to consider developing a WHO convention on pandemic preparedness and response in November, we urge the United States to support mechanisms for financing, R&D capacity strengthening, and technology transfer to be enshrined in the framework.

In recognition of World Mosquito Day on August 20, 2021, GHTC is testing our readers’ knowledge of mosquito-borne diseases and ongoing efforts to develop treatments, vaccines, vector-control innovations, and other tools to outsmart the world’s deadliest animal. Find out if you have achieved mozzie mastery by taking our quiz below. Loading...(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k