Marissa Chmiola

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.  In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. Using a new research platform that extracts DNA directly from soil, researchers at Rockefeller University have discovered a new class of antibiotics. Scientists have long seen soil as a potential untapped source for new antibiotics; however, tapping this resource has proved challenging because only about 1 percent of bacterial species in soil can be cultured in labs. This new discovery platform is culture-independent. It allows scientists to extract, clone, and sequence DNA from the soil without growing bacteria in the lab. Researchers are hopeful this new platform can be scaled to systematically search for new antibiotics in the environment. With recent advances in gene therapy techniques, researchers are looking at the potential of these techniques to improve treatment for those living with AIDS and cure the disease. Scientists have used gene-editing tools to cut DNA at the exact spot to disable the HIV entryway gene both in immune T cells and blood stem cells. While the results of these initial experiments were less promising than researchers had hoped, there was a silver lining: Patients saw a decrease in the number of cells where the HIV virus lurked in a dormant state. Thus, researchers are looking at the potential to pair altered cells with existing antiretroviral medicines to improve the body’s ability to eliminate the virus. Scientists are also looking at the potential to use gene editing to introduce new genes that would help T cells recognize and kill HIV, similar to therapy introduced last year to treat cancer. Aeras announced resultsfrom an innovative clinical trial that provides new encouraging evidence that tuberculosis (TB) vaccines could prevent sustained infections in high-risk adolescents. A prevention-of-infection phase 2 trial in South Africa demonstrated that revaccination with the Bacille Calmette-Guerin vaccine significantly reduced sustain TB infections in adolescents. Another experimental vaccine candidate, H4:IC31, also reduced sustained infections, although not at statistically significant levels. However, these results mark the first time a subunit vaccine has shown any indication of ability to protect against TB infection or disease in humans.

2017 was a year that brought changes, upheavals, and uncertainties for the global health and development community: From the inauguration of a US president that expressed skepticism about foreign assistance and beget uncertainty about the United States’ continued leadership in global health, to the election of a new leader at the World Health Organization (WHO) that faces a tough task of reforming the agency and proving it’s up to the job in the wake of missteps during the Ebola crisis. While the landscape seemed to shift continuously under our feet this year, the community was also buoyed by evidence of our shared progress and success. In developing countries, more women than ever have access to contraceptives. The end of polio is truly within sight. And we have the largest pipeline of promising global health technologies ever in history. As the year comes to an end, GHTC is reflecting on the global health innovation stories and news that shaped 2017. Here are some of those moments: 1. Coalition formed to develop vaccines to prevent pandemics The 2014 Ebola epidemic prompted some real reckoning by the global community and raised important questions on how we can be better equipped with the tools and systems to stop outbreaks before they become epidemics. While the world still remains woefully unprepared, 2017 saw an important step forward with the formation of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). Launched with nearly $600 million in funding from the governments of Norway, Japan, and Germany, and in partnership with the Wellcome Trust and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CEPI aims to develop vaccines against the diseases most likely to cause the next epidemic. 2. US global health and research funding saved from the chopping blockCDC researcher handles pathogen in biosafety lab. Photo: CDC/ Dr. Scott Smith  The year started on an ominous note with the release of the Trump Administration’s fiscal year (FY) 2018 budget proposal, which called for deep cuts to US global health and medical research programs for FY18 as well as proposed rescissions to the US Agency for International Development’s (USAID) global health funding for FY17. While advocates feared Congress would take a cue from the Administration as it finalized FY17 budget negotiations, champions in Congress stepped up and defended these investments. When the dust finally settled, the FY17 omnibus budget passed with sustained funding across these areas, including slight boosts to global health funding at USAID and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a US$2 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). While budget negotiations remain ongoing for FY18, advocates are optimistic Congress will continue to sustain strong funding for global health and medical research. 3. G20 makes first-ever pledge to support R&D to combat global health challenges The world’s wealthiest nations paid some serious lip service to advancing global health research and development (R&D) this year. In their 2017 summit declaration, G20 leaders committed to working together to advance R&D for antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and potentially pandemic diseases— marking the first time R&D for global health has featured on the G20 declaration. Leaders pledged support for coordinated R&D initiatives, like the WHO R&D Blueprint and CEPI as well as called for a new AMR R&D collaboration hub. Although the G20 focused on R&D through the lens of AMR and health security—which addresses only a portion of global health challenges—this was a good sign that the world’s leaders are embracing the importance of health R&D to global development. It is now imperative that words turn into concrete action and that leaders sustain this momentum as Argentina takes helm of the G20 in 2018. 4. Demise of an R&D pooled fund at WHONot all news can be good news. This year brought a disappointing resolution to an over decade-long effort to stand up a voluntary pooled fund at WHO to finance R&D for neglected diseases. At this year’s World Health Assembly, WHO announced that it would cease work on the pooled fund and its initial round of demonstration projects—citing a lack of contributions pledged to support the sustainability of the fund. While this is a disappointing end for global health advocates, on a positive note, WHO pledged to continue a companion effort—the WHO Global Observatory on Health R&D—which was created to facilitate coordination and guide prioritization for global health research. 5. WHO begins process to establish essential diagnostics listA PATH research examines onchocerciasis (river blindness) diagnostic tests. Photo: PATH/Patrick McKern One of the biggest innovations of 2017 could be something decidedly low-tech: a list. While WHO has operated the Model List of Essential Medicines for decades to guide countries in procuring drugs and treatments, this year a group of scientists asked an interesting question: If we have a list for medicines, why don’t we have one for diagnostics? After a sustained advocacy campaign, supported by GHTC, calling for WHO to establish an essential diagnostics list (EDL), the agency formally announced in June it would create an EDL and took the first step in doing so, creating an expert advisory group tasked with developed the list. While the list is not expected to be operational until early 2019, this welcomed move by WHO will improve diagnostic access and innovation and ultimately save lives. 6. Nonprofit-backed Chagas drug beats ex-“Pharma Bro” company’s bid for rival launch Readers always like a David vs. Goliath story, and this one captured a lot of media attention this year. This August, in a surprising move, a creative multisector partnership involving GHTC member Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) successfully secured approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the Chagas drug benznidazole, achieving this milestone before a rival attempt by a company formally run by Martin Shkreli (aka “Pharma Bro”) to register their version of the drug. Under Shkrell’s leadership, this company announced plans to take benznidazole—a drug that has been around since the 1970s, but lacked FDA approval—and register it with the FDA to secure a tropical disease priority review voucher (PRV) to sell. It also expressed plans to its investors to then hike the price of the drug to nearly $1,000 a course (vs. the $60-$100 it’s now being sold at in Latin America). This alarmed advocates who worried the drug would become prohibitively expensive to the nearly 300,000 Americans impacted by Chagas’ disease. This partnership appears to be a win-win for both Americans and people around the world. The company involved in the partnership has committed to making the drug accessible to Americans at an affordable price, and under a provision in the partnership agreement, 50 percent of revenue from a PRV sale will be used to fund programs to expand access to the drug in the United States and other nations. 7. Innovators get creative in combatting the world’s deadliest animal Bill Gates famously reminded us that the world’s deadliest animal is not a shark or a lion, but the pesky, yet lethal mosquito. This year innovators got particularly creative in exploring ways to wipe out these deadly pests and the diseases they carry. Work continued on gene-drives, genetic modification of mosquitoes, and the introduction of the transmission-blocking Wolbachia bacteria. But scientists also tried to see if they could use mosquitoes rather than syringes to deliver malaria vaccines; created a crowd-sourced, mobile-based monitoring platform to track disease-carrying mosquitoes by the sound of their buzz; and innovated a way to introduce sterile mosquitoes into a population via temperature-controlled drone. 8. New global health technologies advance through pipelineOver the past year, several other promising new health innovations have moved through the development pipeline and one step closer to reaching people in need. Here are just a few highlights: A new low-cost, heat-stable rotavirus vaccine, ROTASIL—developed by GHTC member PATH—was found effective against severe rotavirus in Phase II clinical trials. A promising new HIV vaccine candidate that targets multiple strains of HIV—developed by Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson as well as the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)—entered human clinical trials. This marks only the fifth time in history an HIV vaccine candidate has reached this milestone. The first vaccine specifically developed for leprosy entered a Phase I clinical trial, with results expected in 2018. A US Army-developed Zika vaccine candidate ZPIV performed well in three Phase I clinical trials, producing an immune response in more than 90 percent of participants. Building on the success of its monthly dapivirine microbicide ring, which is now under regulatory review, GHTC member the International Partnership for Microbicides announced the launch of clinical trials for a three-month vaginal ring that releases both dapivirine and a contraceptive. NIAID also sponsored Phase I and II trials of a promising Chikungunya vaccine candidate. Currently there is no available vaccine for the disease. A new, anti-malaria compound—developed by Novartis and GHTC member Medicines for Malaria Ventures—entered clinical trials in nine countries in Africa and Asia. Partners hope this new drug will help stave off the development of further malaria drug resistance and expects to complete Phase 2b studies by late 2019. A promising new oral therapy for sleeping sickness—fexinidazole—was found effective in curing the illness in Phase III clinical trials. The treatment—developed by DNDi and Sanofi—could receive regulatory approval as early as the end of next year. As we look forward to 2018, it is time for the global health community to redouble our efforts to make sure this vital progress in global health innovation continues to ensure that people around the world will have access to lifesaving and life-improving health technologies.

There is no doubt that the past decade has brought transformative breakthroughs in global health innovation, from new medicines, to combatting leading child killers like malaria and tuberculosis (TB), to interventions that are making an AIDS-free generation possible. These game changers have saved millions of lives and helped unlock better health and opportunity for people around the world. The Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC) spent this past decade standing side-by-side in partnership with scientists and innovators, working to ensure they have the resources and supportive policies needed to advance innovation that truly drives impact. As we close out our tenth anniversary year and mark our first decade of advocacy, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on our shared progress and celebrate the headlines and moments that shaped global health research and development (R&D) over the past decade. Here are ten highlights: Could pills taken daily prevent HIV infection? That was a key question on researchers and activists minds in the early 2000s.By the end of the decade, the evidence pointed to yes. In 2012, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of the antiretroviral drug Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to prevent HIV infection. While it took several more years for PrEP to begin to be approved and introduced in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), it has proved a powerful new tool in the global fight against HIV and AIDS. Revolutionary. Simple. Empowering. These are words that have been used to describe Sayana Press, an all-in-one injectable contraceptive developed by GHTC member PATH. Sayana Press combines a long-acting contraceptive with the easy-to-use Uniject injection system that involves minimal training, making it an especially suitable tool for low-resource settings and for women to self-administer. Since its introduction in 2014, more than 1 million doses of Sayana Press have been delivered to women worldwide, giving them greater power and autonomy over their reproductive health. Despite the fact that over 70 percent of all malaria deaths are children, before 2009 there was not a single high-quality malaria drug designed for kids. Instead, parents would crush adult tablets in what amounted to a daily struggle to provide an accurate dose as well as convince their kids to swallow these bitter tasting pills. This changed with the introduction of Coartem Dispersible, the first malaria medicine designed for children. Developed by GHTC member Medicines for Malaria Ventures, the medicine is affordable, easy-to-administer, sweet-tasting, and dosed for children. As of 2016, over 300 million treatments have been distributed worldwide, saving an estimated 750,000 lives. For more than a century, meningitis has ravaged a swath of the African continent known as the “meningitis belt,” killing one in ten people it sickened. But thanks to the efforts of a coalition of partners, including GHTC member PATH, we’ve stopped deadly meningitis A epidemics in their tracks. In 2010, MenAfriVac—a low-cost vaccine against mengingitis A—was introduced in Africa. Since then, more than 270 million people in 26 countries have been vaccinated, and thankfully, meningitis A is becoming a disease of the past. HIV and AIDS remains one of the greatest threats to women’s health globally, yet women and girls still lack the range of tools they need to protect themselves. Thanks to over a decade of effort by a unique partnership led by GHTC member the International Partnership for Microbicides, the future looks different. The partnership has advanced a new woman-center HIV prevention tool: a monthly, vaginal microbicide ring that deliver antiretroviral drugs. The groundbreaking new tool was found to reduce HIV risk in women in late-stage clinical trials in 2016, and it is now under regulatory review and poised for potential introduction worldwide. For parents with kids suffering from TB, getting their child to take multiple pills a day for months was a serious struggle, from trying to split up pills, to achieving the right dosage, to convincing children to swallow bitter tasting medicine. In 2016, this process became easier with the introduction of the first kid-friendly TB drugs. Developed by GHTC member TB Alliance, the drugs are appropriately dosed for children, dissolvable in water, and fruit-flavored to appeal to children. Already close to 80 countries, have adopted this improved treatment, with 700,000 courses ordered. Malaria has plagued humanity for tens of thousands of years. Fortunately, this past decade has brought a number of new and improved tools and approaches to tackle this age-old scourge, including the world’s first approved malaria vaccine, Mosquirix. In 2017, the World Health Organization announced plans to pilot the vaccine—developed by GHTC member PATH—in sub-Saharan Africa. While developing a high-efficacy vaccine against malaria has proved challenging due to the parasite’s complexity, Mosquirix, which reduced the rate of infection in children by 39 percent in clinical trials, is an important scientific breakthrough, and health officials hope it will prove a valuable addition in fighting malaria used alongside existing interventions. In 2014, the world’s deadliest Ebola outbreak caught the global community unaware and unprepared, devastating nations in Western Africa. While health workers went to work in the field to contain the immediate crisis, scientists went to work in their labs to develop a vaccine to prevent future epidemics. Thanks to research on Ebola vaccines that had been undertaken in the early 2000s, researchers were able to accelerate the leading Ebola vaccine candidate—RVSV-ZEBOV—from preclinical testing to phase III trials in less than two years. In 2016, it was announced that the vaccine was found nearly 100 percent effective in these trials. The vaccine could be approved by the FDA as early as 2019. More than two billion people worldwide suffer from hidden hunger—a condition characterized by deficiencies in micronutrients such as zinc, iron, and Vitamin A, which can cause stunted growth, blindness, and learning disabilities. In the 1990s, a young economist Howarth Bouis had a kernel of an idea: What if we could create better crops to provide better nutrition? His answer was biofortification, a process of naturally breeding sustenance crops so they are rich in micronutrients. After years of proof of concept research, in 2009, the nonprofit he founded—GHTC member HarvestPlus—introduced its first wave of crops in LMICs, providing nutrient-rich food for people in need. For decades, diagnosing multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-B) meant using older testing methods that took weeks to deliver results and required expensive laboratory equipment. In 2010, this began to change with the introduction of the Xpert MTB/RIF test, an automated diagnostic test developed by GHTC member FIND, which does not require microscopes or a laboratory, involves very little training to operate, and can deliver results in less than two hours, start to finish. FIND and partners will soon introduce a next-generation version—the Genexpert Omni—that is smaller, more portable, and battery-operated, which should further expand access to improved TB diagnosis. View a slideshow of more moments and milestones in global health R&D over the past decade. Here’s to ten more years of progress! At GHTC, we are proud to work with so many believers, innovators, and changemakers who are driving progress in global health. As we embark on 2018 and beyond, we recommit to continuing this momentum and look forward to another decade of advancing innovation to save lives.

In this regular feature on Breakthroughs, we highlight some of the most interesting reads in global health research from the past week. Novartis has launched patient testing of a new anti-malaria compound with the hopes of staving off the development of further drug-resistance. The experimental compound—KAF156—will be tested in combination with another medicine in children and adults across nine countries in Africa and Asia over the next few months. In recent years, there have been increasing reports of malaria parasites that have become resistant to the standard treatment regimens against malaria, spurring the need for new treatment options from different classes of antimalarial compounds. Novartis expects to complete phase 2b studies of the compound by late 2019. It remains too early to tell whether the product will eventually reach market. A strain of gut bacteria taken from the diaper of a baby could hold promise in saving the lives of thousands of newborns in poor regions. Scientists conducting a large clinical trial in India found that babies who were fed a probiotic strain of Lactobacillus bacteria for a week were 40 percent less likely to develop a deadly infection called sepsis, which kills 600,000 newborns per year in India and other nearby nations. Babies who took the probiotic also had fewer cases of pneumonia, diarrhea, and ear infections. Researchers believe this probiotic—which costs only US$1—could be a “game changer” in advancing the health of infants in poor nations. Scientists at Harvard University are genetically engineering relatives of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) in the hopes if speeding development and clinical trials to develop a better TB vaccine. The only currently available TB vaccine is partially effective in children and performs poorly in adults, so scientists are working to develop other vaccine candidates. However, performing clinical trials on vaccines is challenging because a typical clinical trial involves observing large numbers of people over long periods of time to monitor results in a small subset of people that naturally come into contact with the microbe. Alternatively, “challenge studies” infect people on purpose, so are faster and less expensive, but these studies are only possible if the disease can be detected and treated easily. TB can take time to detect and many months to treat, so is not appropriate for this type of study. The team at Harvard is working to genetically modify TB so it can be safely given to people as part of challenge trials, and thus help speed vaccine development. 

What do an onsite chlorine generator, fingerprint scanning technology for newborns, and temperature-monitoring wristband all have in common? The potential to save the lives of mothers and newborns in some of the poorest, hardest-to-reach communities around the world. These were among the many innovations pitched on July 27 at the DevelopmentXChange—the final stage of competition in the seventh annual Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development, a prize program sponsored by the US Agency of International Development and other partners to identify and advance transformative, cost-effective solutions to improve maternal and newborn health, particularly during the first 48 hours after birth. Through the challenge, innovators compete for grants to develop, test, and bring their ideas to scale. This year, the challenge received more than 550 applications from across the world, with 53 teams chosen as finalists to compete at this year’s DevelopmentXChange. At the conclusion of the event, 15 winners were selected, with additional grant recipients to be announced later this year in the transition-to-scale category. GHTC members featured among finalists Among the 53 finalists were five promising innovations from GHTC member organizations, profiled below: Validation of an innovative, onsite, easy-to-use chlorine generator for infection prevention and control in labor wards* PATH The chlorine generator for infection prevention and control in labor wards. (Photo: GHTC/Marissa Chmiola)With just salt, water, and a power source, a hospital or clinic can create chlorinated water onsite to disinfect equipment and surfaces to keep mothers and babies healthy. That’s the idea behind the SE Flow Chlorinator—an easy-to-use, cost-effective chlorine generator designed for low-resource settings.  Infections are a leading cause of death for mothers and newborns during childbirth. While chlorine is one of the most widely-used and accepted methods for disinfecting surfaces, getting chlorine to remote health care facilities can be a challenge due to combination of weak supply chains, inconsistent transportation networks, and bureaucratic hurdles. The result: Close to one-third of facilities in low-income countries recently surveyed by the World Health Organization (WHO) did not have chlorine available. PATH and its partner MSR Global Health hope the SE flow will address chlorine supply chain hurdles by enabling facilities to produce consistently chlorinated water on the spot, at the quantity needed. The device also produces an additional benefit: cost savings. Over five years, the SE flow is estimated to save a facility 50 percent over the cost of purchasing chlorine on the market. PATH and MSR Global Health plan to test 50 of the devices next summary to collective evidence, refine the design, and support a broader roll out. Validation of an innovative newborn respiratory package of equipment and training* PATH Respiratory infections are a leading cause of infant mortality, particularly in premature infants whose lungs are not fully formed. Without strong lungs and appropriate oxygen intake, newborns face significant challenges in healthy development, including lifelong neurological damage or blindness. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy helps mitigate these challenges; however, the tools used in high-income nations to administer this therapy have traditionally been too costly to use in low-resource settings overseas.  A low-cost  bCPAP device for newborn health. (Photo: GHTC/Taylor Capizola) PATH and other partners developed a low-cost bubble CPAP (bCPAP) device, combined with an oxygen blender, that is appropriate for low-resource settings and has proven effective in controlling the flow of air to support breathing. To support further uptake and effective use of this intervention, PATH is now partnering with the Massachusetts General Hospital Division of Global Health and Human Rights to package the bCPAP, oxygen blender, nasal prongs, and a pulse oximeter with training and educational materials, including checklists, manuals, and wall charts. The training materials will be essential to expanding newborn access to respiratory therapy, particularly in facilities where no prior intervention existed and medical staff may be uncertain of how to best use these new tools. The team has also partnered with Sinapi biomedical, a South African biomedical manufacturer, to manufacture the package of tools and training materials to greatly expand the number of medical facilities using these interventions by bring the toolkit to scale. They expect that with Saving Lives at Birth support, mortality will drop 25 percent among newborns treated in facilities introducing bCPAP therapy for the first time. Building social accountability structures for respectful maternity care in Kenya: “RMC Virtual Space” Population Council Population Council's virtual space photos. (Photo: GHTC/Marissa Chmiola)The birth of a child can be one of the most moving experiences of a mother’s life, but in many low-income countries, it can also expose a woman to abuse and disrespect. Women who visit a health care facility during childbirth often face mistreatment, whether in the form of physical abuse, non-consent for physical examinations, neglect, or disrespectful comments. Often women are hesitant to report these incidents due to fear of reprisal or distrust that their feedback will be heard. Population Council has designed a low-cost mobile text message reporting platform that they believe will empower women to report their experiences and help providers comprehend the scope of the problem and develop solutions. This intervention works by enrolling women in the platform when they visit a facility for care. Following a visit, the patient is prompted through text message with a series of simple questions to collect information about her experience. The data is then aggregated and presented to the provider or facility in an easy-to-understand, dashboard-style system. Population Council chose to design the platform using text messaging as the basis for collecting feedback because it is ubiquitous across the African continent and provides a level of anonymity that encourages women to report their experience. The project team is at the concept stage and is currently testing the intervention in health facilities in Kenya to solicit feedback and refine its approach. Innovative packaging and pasteurization for donor human milk to improve health outcomes for preterm infants PATH Human milk banks play a critical role in ensuring that safe, high-quality human milk can be made available to infants whose mothers are unable to directly provide their own milk. Current guidelines for human milk pasteurization require temperature control of 62.5 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes to ensure all pathogens and bacteria are killed. Unfortunately, while this temperature kills microorganisms that can make infants sick, it also kills vital nutrients for an infant’s growth and development. No further international guidelines have been established, leaving engineers and scientists with the challenge of delivering safe, yet properly nutritious donor milk to milk banks. To solve this issue, PATH is seeking to improve the two processes involved in transporting human milk to milk banks: Pasteurization and packaging. PATH plans to research and narrow in on the optimal temperature range and timing capable of keeping human milk safe to drink and properly nutritious for infants. As part of this, PATH is also exploring the most effective packaging that help in achieving this temperature range and timing. Currently, the most common packaging for human milk is plastic or glass jars, but PATH researchers have found these jars do not transfer heat well or consistently. PATH plans to test a number of packaging options from stainless steel jars, which are commonly used in countries like India, to sterile plastic bags coated in aluminum—which in early testing have shown to distribute heat evenly and are easy to transport. Once the optimal temperature rage and optimal packaging are discovered, PATH plans to distribute this information widely to milk banks, donor human milk pasteurization equipment manufacturers, and human milk packagers to improve health and survival outcomes for all infants who receive heat-treated donor human milk globally. Advancing a simple, low-cost rapid diagnostic test for urinary adipsin: A promising new biomarker-based test for improving preclampsia screening in low-resource settings* PATH The preeclampsia (PE) test. (Photo: GHTC/Matt Robinson) Preeclampsia (PE) is a dangerous condition that causes organ failure and seizures, and it is one of the leading causes of maternal and newborn deaths worldwide. While diagnostic tests already exist that can provide early warning of risk factors, accurate tests require samples collected over 24 hours, and rapid tests were able to identify only 51 percent to 68 percent of risk cases. Thanks to a Saving Lives at Birth Round 4 Seed Award, PATH has developed an early prototype of a rapid diagnostic test (RDT) that is just as fast as existing RDTs, but is capable of catching 85 percent of risk cases early in the third trimester of pregnancy in plenty of time to take action. It is also temperature stable at 37 to 45 degrees Celsius and can be produced for pennies on the dollar of the cost of previous tests.  With its round seven award, the PATH team will undertake additional activities to bring the new RDT closer to broad scale use. First, the team will further optimize the test to expand its shelf life and determine the feasibility of increasing the test’s accuracy. Second, the team will explore whether the test—which currently requires a strip be dipped into urine in a separate container—can be incorporated into a form similar to at home pregnancy tests, making it easier to use and allowing women to take the test in the comfort of their own homes. Finally, the team will begin negotiations with commercial partners to scale up the product so it becomes widely available worldwide. The transformative power of innovation GHTC congratulates both our members and the other teams who were selected as finalists and award winners. This year’s prize winners will join the growing community of over 100 innovators supported by the Saving Lives at Birth partnership. Many of these innovations are beginning to have an impact as they are brought to scale. To date, the program has supported 1.5 million women and newborns and saved nearly 10,000 lives. The Saving Lives at Birth program proves that through creative partnerships and innovative ideas and interventions, we can create dramatic improvements in the health and well-being of people around the world. *indicates this intervention was among the 15 winners. GHTC staff including Taylor Capizola, program assistant; Matthew Robinson, MA, multilateral advocacy and policy officer; and Courtney Carson; US advocacy and policy officer, contributed to this article.  

GHTC held a Game changers in global health game night on Capitol Hill to educate Congressional staffers about the impact of US leadership in global health research and development (R&D). Our guests ate, drank, played games, and learned a thing or two about how investing in global health R&D saves lives around the world, creates US jobs and economic growth, and protects Americans from disease threats. Here are some of our favorite photos: Playing "ROI: Return on Innovation" claw game to see the impressive rate of return generated by US investments in global health R&D.  I wonder what return this person will get for his dollar.     Discovering that global health R&D is a smart investment. It saves lives around the world, spurs US economic growth, generates cost savings, and protects Americans from disease threats.      Pulling a block from "Agency Jenga" to learn a fun fact about the important and unique contributions made by each US government agency involved in global health R&D.     Each US agency is vital to a strong and stable global health R&D ecosystem. If too many blocks are removed, the system could topple!     Playing "Striking out Disease" bowling to experience how changing funding levels for global health R&D impacts our ability to strike out the world's deadliest diseases. This player experienced funding cuts so was stuck bowling with a tiny tennis ball!       This player received an R&D funding increase, so she was able to bowl with the jumbo ball.       Attendees visit the "Gallery of Game Changers" booth to see, touch, and taste how American investment is generating game-changing global health technologies.     The International Partnership for Microbicides demonstrates how its dapivirine vaginal ring is inserted and can help women protect themselves against HIV and AIDS. The ring, which slowly releases the antiretroviral drug dapivirine, was shown to be effective in late stage clinical trials.     PATH shows off the Nifty Cup. This low-cost device, developed with support from USAID, helps babies born prematurely who struggle to breastfeed.     HarvestPlus shows off its naturally-bred, biofortified Vitamin-A orange corn, allowing attendees a chance to taste orange corn cookies and popcorn. This innovation is a sustainable, cost-effective way to combat malnutrition.     Jhpiego demonstrates how to put on a new Ebola personal protective suit it developed with support from USAID's Ebola Grand Challenges for Development.     This guest agrees. Investing in global health R&D should be an important priority for the US government.     Playing "Race for a Cure" to learn about the global health R&D process. It takes an average of 12-15 years to develop a vaccine. This player is racing to see if she can get her vaccine through all the stages of the product development process before the clock runs out.     Developing treatments, cures, and vaccines for the world’s most devastating diseases is not easy. Many challenges arise along the path from scientific discovery to lifesaving technology. That's just a part of the global health R&D process.     GHTC Director Jamie Bay Nishi talks about GHTC's mission and the critical role of global health R&D in addressing the world's most pressing health challenges.     Jamie Bay Nishi introduces Congressman Albio Sires (D-NJ), a longtime global health R&D champion and lead co-sponsor of the Global Health Innovation Act.     Congressman Albio Sires highlights how US leadership in global health R&D not only saves lives around the world, but also protects Americans from disease threats and generates US jobs and economic growth.     Congressman Albio Sires (D-NJ) checks out Jhpiego's Ebola personal protective suit.     Guests visit the "Does It Exist?" booth with a scenario card they received at registration to discover whether the vaccine, drug, or other health technologies needed to address the scenario exists. Despite tremendous progress in global health, we still don’t have the tools needed to diagnose, prevent, and treat many longstanding and emerging health challenges.     A guest spins the "Wheel of Progress" to receive a trivia question about a US agency involved in global health R&D.     Guests enjoy GHTC's signature color-changing cocktail "The Cure." It takes a drop of American ingenuity, a dash of investment, and a dose of partnership to discover the cure.     Attendees check out Jhpiego's Ebola personal protective suit.     Everyone agrees, game night was a hit!