UPDATE 52: MAY 1 TO MAY 31, 2013
PDP FUNDERS GROUP
Items in blue or purple should be hyperlinked to the full text version; if I have made mistakes
many apologies. If you have any issues that you would like to include in the Update please
send them to Jane Rowley (jtfrowley@btinternet.com).
FUNDER ANNOUNCEMENTS (SINCE MAY 1, 2013)
Gates Foundation
21 May 2013:
Is it Possible to Identify Illness in Newborns from their Cry?
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced more than US $8.1 million in new grants
through its Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE) initiative. GCE is a phased grant program that funds
innovative ideas to tackle key global health and development problems, and provides additional
resources for projects that demonstrate promise.
Fifty-eight projects from 18 countries will receive $100,000 grants. These grants allow researchers to
begin testing bold global health and development projects that could transform the lives of those
most in need. …
Japan - GHIT
30 May 2013:
Japan Launches Bold Effort to Fight Neglected Diseases by Screening Massive Drug
Compound “Libraries” for New Treatments
The Global Health Innovative Technology Fund (GHIT Fund), a new public-private partnership that’s
bringing Japanese research and development (R&D) to the global fight against infectious disease, will
announce at the 5th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V) a series of
historic agreements to screen compound libraries at Japanese pharmaceutical companies and
research institutes for new treatments for malaria, tuberculosis, and other afflictions that prey mainly
on the poorest of the poor.
“These thirteen agreements are just the first of what we expect will be many global health
partnerships facilitated and funded by the GHIT Fund that tap into Japan’s enormous capacity for
innovation and technology,” said BT Slingsby, MD, PhD, MPH, who serves as CEO and executive
director of the GHIT Fund. …
The Fund’s inaugural efforts are financing the work of three non-profit product development
partnerships (PDPs) to search for new drug candidates in compound libraries maintained by Japanese
pharmaceutical companies and research institutes. The PDPs involved in the work are the Global
Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance), the Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV), and the
Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi). …
TB Alliance is partnering with Eisai Co., Ltd., Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd., Shionogi & Co., Ltd. and Takeda
Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd in a search for compounds that show potential to fight deadly, drug-resistant
TB strains that are undermining efforts to control the global TB epidemic. …
MMV is partnering with Eisai Co., Ltd., Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd., Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., along
with the Institute of Microbial Chemistry (BIKAKEN) and Kitasato Institute, to seek out new candidates
for treating malaria. There is an urgent need for new malaria treatments as resistance to the most
effective drugs now available, artemisinin combination therapies or ACTs, has emerged in Southeast
Asia and could spread elsewhere. …
DNDi is partnering with Eisai, Takeda Pharmaceutical Co, the Institute of Microbial Chemistry
(BIKAKEN) and Kitasato Institute as part of its effort to find new treatments for three neglected
tropical diseases (NTDs) that threaten hundreds of millions of people worldwide: leishmaniasis,
Chagas disease and sleeping sickness (Human African trypanosomiasis or HAT). Leishmaniasis, a
parasite-borne disease transmitted by sandflies, has a “visceral” form that can kill and a cutaneous
form that causes painful, scarring skin ulcers. Chagas disease, a parasite-borne disease transmitted by
insects known as “kissing bugs,” kills more people in Latin America than any other parasitic disease.
Sleeping sickness is a parasitic disease transmitted by the bite of the tsetse fly. The disease affects
mostly poor populations living in remote rural areas of Africa. Untreated, it is usually fatal. …
UPDATE 52: MAY 1 TO MAY 31, 2013
The aforementioned 13 partnerships to probe the various drug compound libraries emerged from a
call for proposals issued by the GHIT Fund in April that was open to all Japanese companies and
research institutions and to international PDPs developing new tools to fight infectious disease.
Additional agreements are expected from this call for proposals. The GHIT Fund plans to seek another
round of proposals that could prompt more Japanese companies and research organizations to offer
their compound libraries for screening.
In addition, the GHIT Fund also is seeking grant proposals for partnerships focused on developing new
medicines, vaccines or diagnostics that seek to reduce the burden of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and
a constellation of other debilitating afflictions that disproportionately affect poor people in
developing countries. A key requirement is partnership: each proposal must involve both a Japanese
partner and an international collaborator already working in global health R&D.
As explained by Kiyoshi Kurokawa, MD, chair of the GHIT Fund board, “The key is for our Fund to
provide speed and impact through the facilitation and funding of collaborations.”
UK - DFID
23 May 2013:
UK to co-host high-level meeting on global nutrition and growth
The UK government, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), and the Government of Brazil
will co-host Nutrition for Growth: Beating Hunger through Business and Science on 8 June to bring
together business leaders, scientists, governments and civil society to make the political and financial
commitments needed to prevent undernutrition, enabling people and nations to prosper. …
US - NIH
2 May 2013:
Funding Opportunities: Methodologies and formative work for combination HIV
prevention approaches
Three separate components:
 RFA-MH-14-180 (Research Project Grant)
 RFA-MH-14-181 (Exploratory/ Developmental Research Grant)
 RFA-MH-14-182 (Clinical Trail Planning Grant Application)
9 May 2013:
Funding Opportunity: Functional Glycomics in HIV Vaccine Design (R01)
The objective of this FOA is to stimulate novel areas of research on the role of glycosylation in HIV-1
envelope protein immunogenicity and modulation of the immune response to HIV viral infection.
Cross-disciplinary research is needed among HIV vaccinologists, glycobiologists, virologists,
immunologists, biochemists, clinical scientists, carbohydrate chemists, and other relevant specialists
to conduct the proposed research. Therefore, collaborations among such groups are strongly
encouraged to provide the required expertise to tackle this research area. The biosynthesis of glycans
in cells is a non-template process, with the capability of generating a large variety of complex
carbohydrate structures. As a consequence, technical challenges in analyzing these complex
structures have limited progress in the past. Recent advances in glycomic technologies have resulted
in more tools at our disposal, and past investment in the development of these tools can now be
leveraged with biological expertise to focus the use of these new technologies for HIV vaccine
research that is scalable and manufacturable. …
14 May 2013:
Results of the ROTAVAC Rotavirus Vaccine Study in India
We congratulate the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), Bharat Biotech
International, Ltd., and the scientists, government and people of India on the important results from
the ROTAVAC rotavirus vaccine study . …
ROTAVAC is a new rotavirus vaccine that consists of a strain of the virus that was isolated,
manufactured and tested in India. The ROTAVAC trial represents a significant victory for India’s
scientific community. Based on the study’s successful findings, infants in India will gain access to a
licensed vaccine and its significant protection against severe rotavirus-induced gastroenteritis. …
UPDATE 52: MAY 1 TO MAY 31, 2013
US - USAID
17 May 2013:
Global Health, Development and Business Leaders Announce New Innovative
Financing Partnership to Deliver Essential Health Supplies More Quickly and
Efficiently
Today, The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Swedish
International Agency for Development Cooperation announced a five-year partial guarantee to help
speed up the procurement of essential medicines and health supplies by governments and civil
society partners. The guarantee is part of a major scale-up of the Pledge Guarantee for Health, which
will help to increase the impact of donor funding and ultimately improve healthcare access for the
millions who are helped by foreign aid.
USAID’s partial guarantee, facilitated through its Development Credit Authority, enables PGH to
access $100 million in credit that, over 5 years, can mobilize a tremendous value of lending capacity.
…
Wellcome Trust
2 May 2013:
Wellcome Trust supports open access award programme
The Wellcome Trust has joined with the Public Library of Science and Google to launch the
Accelerating Science Award Program (ASAP) to recognise the use of scientific research, published
through open access, that has led to innovations in any field that benefit society.
This new, innovative programme recognises individuals who have used, applied or remixed scientific
research - published through open access - to innovate and make a difference in science, medicine,
business, technology or society as a whole. Potential nominees include individuals, teams or groups of
collaborators (such as scientists, researchers, educators, social services, technology leaders,
entrepreneurs, policy makers, patient advocates, public health workers and students) who have used
scientific research in transformative ways. …
Three top awards of $30 000 each will be presented. The nomination period is open from 1 May to
15 June 2013. Winners will be announced in Washington, DC, in October 2013, at an Open Access
Week kick-off event hosted by SPARC and the World Bank.
ASAP is sponsored by 24 global organisations that value the transformative impact of applying
scientific research, published through open access, to extend the reach of science and medicine.
Find more about ASAP on the ASAP website or follow the conversation on Twitter with #SciASAP.
3 May 2013:
Funding boosts GSK's open approach to drug discovery for low-income countries
The Wellcome Trust has awarded a £5 million Seeding Drug Discovery award to GlaxoSmithKline plc
(GSK) to support its open approach to discovering and developing urgently needed new treatments
for diseases of low-income countries.
The funding will help to move early-stage research to find new medicines for diseases such as
tuberculosis, malaria, leishmaniasis and sleeping sickness to the next level. Scientists from around the
world will work in collaboration with GSK drug discovery experts at the GSK facility in Tres Cantos,
Madrid, with the ultimate goal of developing two high-quality experimental drugs over the next five
years. …
14 May 2013:
Study defines level of dengue virus needed for transmission
Researchers have identified the dose of dengue virus in human blood that is required to infect
mosquitoes when they bite. Mosquitoes are essential for transmitting the virus between people, so
the findings have important implications for understanding how to slow the spread of the disease.
By defining the threshold for transmission, the research also provides a target that experimental
dengue vaccines and drugs must prevent the virus from reaching in order to be successful at
preventing the spread of disease during natural infection. …
The researchers hope that understanding the level of virus needed for transmission of infection will
provide a useful reference point for the development of experimental drugs and vaccines and could
be used to inform the endpoints for clinical trials evaluating such interventions.
The study is published online today in the journal 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences'.
UPDATE 52: MAY 1 TO MAY 31, 2013
PDP PRESS RELEASES (SINCE MAY 1, 2013)
Aeras
5 May 2013:
TB, HIV and Malaria Vaccine Research
Aeras, a nonprofit biotech advancing TB vaccines for the world, the University of Oxford and Okairos,
a biopharmaceutical company specializing in T-cell vaccines, today announced a $2.9 million grant to
Aeras in support of a collaboration among the three parties to support the development of vaccines
against tuberculosis, HIV and malaria.
The grant, provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, allows the three groups to work together
to develop scalable methods to enable large-scale production of multiple novel chimpanzee
adenovirus vector constructs. …
9 May 2013:
Aeras Names Thomas G. Evans President & CEO
The Aeras Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Thomas G. Evans, MD, as
President & Chief Executive Officer of Aeras, a non-profit biotech advancing TB vaccines for the
world. Dr. Evans, who joined Aeras as Chief Scientific Officer in 2010, has been acting as Interim
President and Chief Scientific Officer since early 2013. He assumes his leadership role as President
and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) today. …
DNDi
2 May 2013:
DNDi Selected as Finalist for Rockefeller Foundation’s “Next Century Innovators
Award”
The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) was selected as one of two finalists for the
Rockefeller Foundation’s “Next Century Innovators Awards”, recognizing innovative organizations
working to improve conditions for vulnerable populations around the world.
From among 1000 nominations, DNDi was chosen for its innovative approach to research and
development (R&D) to develop new treatments addressing the urgent health needs of the world's
most neglected people, and in particular its unique model, which pulls together existing research
capacity around well-defined goals in a way that de-links the cost of R&D from the price of the final
product, guaranteeing patient access and affordability. …
DVI
7 May 2013:
Takeda to Acquire Inviragen, Inc.
On May 7th, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Inviragen, Inc. jointly announced that they
have entered into a definitive agreement for Takeda to acquire Inviragen, whose DENVax dengue
vaccine candidate is currently being evaluated in dengue endemic areas.
Inviragen’s lead candidate, DENVax, is a live, attenuated, chimeric tetravalent dengue vaccine. An
ongoing Phase 2 study is testing the safety and immune response of DENVax in multiple age groups in
dengue endemic countries including Colombia, Puerto Rico, Singapore and Thailand, with an
administration schedule of two doses of DENVax given over 90 days. ….
The International Vaccine Institute, on behalf of DVI, and Inviragen signed a memorandum of
understanding in August of 2011, with the ultimate objective of making a dengue vaccine widely
accessible to people in countries where this disease is endemic.
FIND
17 May 2013:
Major Breakthrough: LAMP test opens new paths to malaria elimination
Two articles published this week in the Journal for Infectious Diseases describe a highly accurate new
test to detect malaria parasites in blood. The test, called LAMP, detects malaria down to a very low
threshold in people infected with the parasite, whether performed in a state-of-the-art laboratory in
London or a remote clinic in rural Africa. This LAMP malaria assay is the first that is commercially
UPDATE 52: MAY 1 TO MAY 31, 2013
available, and the first that does not require refrigeration. …
Visualizing malaria parasites under a microscope has been the standard method of malaria diagnosis
for 120 years. More recently, in the 1990s, antigen-detecting tests, called rapid diagnostic tests
(RDTs), became available and are now widely used in endemic areas. However, neither microscopy
nor RDTs allow detection of very low levels of malaria infection. Up to now, highly sensitive detection
has only been available through use of PCR (polymerase chain reaction), a sophisticated laboratory
technique for the detection of genetic material. PCR, while highly accurate, requires specialized
laboratory infrastructure, costly reagents, advanced training, and several hours or even days to obtain
results.
LAMP, on the other hand, achieves accuracy similar to PCR, but can be done on a simple bench top in
a clinic, with basic reagents and equipment, by personnel with only a few days’ training in the
technique. Results are available just one hour after sample processing begins. …
IDRI
7 May 2013:
IDRI Moves Into New Space At 1616 Eastlake
IDRI (Infectious Disease Research Institute) has officially moved from its long-time residence in
Seattle’s First Hill neighborhood to its new home at 1616 Eastlake Avenue East, where it will occupy
approximately 55,000 square feet, principally on the fourth floor of the building. IDRI is leasing the
space from real estate partner Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc., and worked with Aedas, an
international architecture and design firm, as well as BNBuilders, a West Coast construction company,
to update the space to meet its current needs and allow for future growth. IDRI’s move to the South
Lake Union neighborhood puts it in midst of Seattle’s growing global health/life sciences hub, where it
has many partners and collaborators.
The majority of the space contains general laboratories, as well as specialized facilities including a
GMP manufacturing suite, rooms for drug discovery robotics and IDRI’s new Human Immune
Monitoring Center. By re-utilizing materials and office space configurations from the previous tenant,
IDRI saved more than $1 million in its build-out, which was put toward developing state-of-the art
labs. The space allows IDRI’s staff and scientists, who were previously spread across three floors of a
two-building complex, to consolidate almost all activities on one floor. …
IAVI
17 May 2013:
World AIDS Vaccine Day 2013 - IAVI Statement
On World AIDS Vaccine Day, May 18, IAVI remains as committed to the quest for an AIDS vaccine as it
was in 1998, when this day of observance was established to commemorate former US President Bill
Clinton’s challenge to researchers to develop a vaccine against HIV. We are as committed as we were
when, 13 years ago, world leaders established the Millennium Development Goals and included in
their ambitious list a call to address the suffering caused by AIDS, halt the growth of the HIV
pandemic by 2015 and begin reversing the tide of new infections. In the face of serious scientific and
economic challenges—and acknowledging the remarkable progress that has already been made in the
prevention and treatment of HIV and AIDS—we remain committed to the belief that the world needs
an AIDS vaccine.
This day, we remember that there still exists a pressing need for such a vaccine as part of a
comprehensive response to the pandemic. That need is most acutely felt in sub-Saharan Africa—
where HIV has exacted its greatest toll—and among women, who are everywhere at elevated risk of
HIV infection. This is especially true of young women: those between the ages of 15 and 24 remain
twice as likely to be living with HIV as men of the same age. Indeed, HIV does not affect all people
equally. Sex workers, male and female, remain at high risk of infection. And men who have sex with
men are, on average, 13 times more likely than the general population to be infected with the virus.
An HIV vaccine has the real potential to address the needs of these vulnerable groups. If deployed
with other preventive tools, such vaccines could help reduce new infections to nearly zero in the long
term. …
30 May 2013:
Leading scientists call for a human vaccines project in Science
UPDATE 52: MAY 1 TO MAY 31, 2013
A group of leading scientists advocate the creation of a Human Vaccines Project to accelerate the
development of next generation vaccines against major global killers such as AIDS, tuberculosis,
malaria and other infectious diseases. In the current issue of the journal Science they further argue
that a Human Vaccines Project would fuel vaccine approaches to preventing allergies, autoimmune
diseases and cancers, and provide a firm foundation for developing vaccines against new and
emerging diseases. (Science, Accelerating Next-Generation Vaccine Development for Global Disease
Prevention)
Led by IAVI’s Chief Scientific Officer Wayne Koff, the authors survey new biomedical technologies—
ranging from genomics to humanized mice—that might be harnessed to advance the development of
a new generation of vaccines. Further, they propose the coordinated conduct of small, iterative
clinical studies in human volunteers to generate a more granular picture of the systemic requirements
of vaccine-induced immunity. Such information would, they argue, establish a firm scientific
foundation for vaccinology, one that could be applied to improve the design of all future vaccine
candidates. …
IPM
6 May 2013:
IPM Partners with Sikiliza Leo Bicycle Tour to Highlight Advances in HIV Prevention
Research
Riders from the USA, Europe and Africa set off today on a bike trail that will see them cycle for about
two weeks through rural regions of western Kenya and eastern Uganda – not only to appreciate and
experience the immense beauty of this area but also to ride with a purpose.
The inaugural cycling trip plans to call attention to the development and health challenges faced by
communities living in these areas. Hosted by Ugandan NGO, Sikiliza Leo and with logistic support
from Kilimanjaro Bike Trail, the riders aim to garner international attention, which along with targeted
marketing efforts, will position the route as a cycling destination thereby creating economic and
social development opportunities for communities along the route. …
MMV
24 May 2013:
WHO approves injectable artesunate 30mg & 120mg
30mg and 120mg packs of Guilin Pharmaceutical’s treatment for severe malaria, Artesun, have been
prequalified by the World Health Organization. This approval now increases the range of doses
available for this life-saving medicine to malaria-endemic countries that previously only had access to
60mg packs. …
31 May 2013:
Japan launches bold effort to fight neglected diseases
See Japan – GHIT for copy of press release
PATH
6 May 2013:
PATH to test new formulation of oral rehydration solution
PATH’s Drug Development program has launched a phase 2 clinical trial in Bangladesh to test a new
formulation of oral rehydration solution (ORS), a therapy that is being evaluated for reversing
dehydration that results from severe diarrhea caused by diarrheal disease. The three-part trial,
conducted in partnership with the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh,
will evaluate three new starch-based formulations of ORS, comparing them with current glucosebased treatment and selecting the most promising option for further development and
commercialization. …
10 May 2013:
Semisynthetic artemisinin achieves WHO prequalification
Semisynthetic artemisinin, a key ingredient in the most effective malaria treatments, has been
prequalified by the World Health Organization (WHO), PATH’s Drug Development program
announced today.
WHO’s decision means semisynthetic artemisinin has been evaluated and accepted for use in the
UPDATE 52: MAY 1 TO MAY 31, 2013
manufacture of active pharmaceutical ingredients and finished pharmaceutical products.
Prequalification also creates a simplified process for manufacturers using semisynthetic artemisinin in
their products to obtain regulatory acceptance, possibly accelerating the availability of malaria
treatments on the market.
Semisynthetic artemisinin was created through a nine-year, cross-sector partnership led by OneWorld
Health, which affiliated with PATH in 2011 to establish PATH’s Drug Development program. Largescale production was launched last month by the project’s development and manufacturing partner,
pharmaceutical company Sanofi. Artemisinin is the key ingredient in artemisinin-based combination
therapies, recommended by WHO as a first-line treatment for uncomplicated malaria caused by the
parasite Plasmodium falciparum.
The global supply of artemisinin, which is derived from the sweet wormwood plant, has not always
kept pace with the demand. The addition of non-plant-derived artemisinin will strengthen the
capacity of the supply chain, and should contribute to price stability and ultimately ensure greater
availability of treatment. …
14 May 2013:
New rotavirus vaccine shows promise
PATH congratulates the government of India’s Department of Biotechnology and Bharat Biotech on
their release of positive phase 3 clinical trial results for ROTAVAC®, the first efficacious rotavirus
vaccine to be developed exclusively in India. Results demonstrate the vaccine successfully protects
against rotavirus infections, one of the most lethal forms of diarrhea in young children. …
International collaborators on ROTAVAC® included the government of India’s Department of
Biotechnology, Bharat Biotech, the US National Institutes of Health, the US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, Stanford University School of Medicine, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
the Research Council of Norway, the United Kingdom Department for International Development, and
PATH.
The phase 3 trial began in March 2011 and enrolled more than 6,000 participants across three sites in
India. Bharat Biotech will soon file for registration of the vaccine in India. If licensed by the Drugs
Controller General of India, the vaccine will be a more affordable alternative to the rotavirus vaccines
already on the market.
28 May 2013:
Antidiarrheal drug candidate moves to next phase of clinical study
An investigational new drug developed by PATH’s Drug Development program to treat acute
secretory diarrhea is entering the next phase of clinical development following the successful
completion of clinical studies in the United States.
iOWH032, designed to treat diarrhea caused by diseases such as cholera, has been previously
investigated in animal diarrhea studies, preclinical toxicology studies, and first-in-human trials in
healthy American volunteers. Those studies found that it was generally safe and well tolerated.
Clinical trial in Bangladesh
The next study, a phase 2(a) trial conducted in partnership with the International Centre for
Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh, will assess the pharmacokinetics, safety, and tolerability of
iOWH032 in Bangladeshi healthy volunteers and in patients with acute cholera. Findings will support
dose selection for a subsequent proof-of-concept trial to assess the safety and efficacy of iOWH032 in
treating cholera in a large number of patients.
Unlike most currently available medications, iOWH032 works to treat diarrheal processes directly by
reducing fluid secretion, shortening both the duration and severity of symptoms. If approved, the
drug would be used in conjunction with oral rehydration and other proven therapies and could
encourage wider adoption of and compliance with those treatments by quickly reducing diarrheal
symptoms.
The goal: prevent dehydration
iOWH032, a synthetic small molecule with novel biological activity, is designed to prevent
dehydration and provide rapid relief of diarrheal symptoms before they become fatal. The drug
candidate works by inhibiting the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), which
is the primary driver of secretion in cases of diarrhea caused by enterotoxigenic or cholera bacteria.
iOWH032 acts as a CFTR inhibitor by blocking the flow of chloride ions and thus the loss of water out
of the gastrointestinal tract. …
UPDATE 52: MAY 1 TO MAY 31, 2013
TB Alliance
28 May 2013:
Debrework Zewdie Appointed to TB Alliance’s Board of Directors Accomplished
Global Health Leader brings development and international health expertise
TB Alliance, a not-for-profit organization with the mission of developing better, faster-acting, and
affordable TB treatments, announces the election of Debrework Zewdie, PhD to its Board of Directors.
Dr. Zewdie is a deeply accomplished global health leader, and brings significant expertise to the
organization. …
Dr. Zewdie recently returned to the World Bank as Senior Advisor, President’s Office Special Envoy
after serving a three-year assignment as the Deputy, Executive Director and COO at the Global Fund
to Fight AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis. While at the Global Fund, Dr. Zewdie co-lead the
Organizational restructuring and realizing of corporate priorities by instituting efficient and effective
ways of doing business. In addition, she was responsible for the day to day running of the institution,
planning, organizational strategy, and accountability and served as a member of the Executive
Committee. Earlier in her career, Dr. Zewdie was the Director of the Global HIV/AIDS Program at the
World Bank who pioneered the Bank’s engagement in fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic and led the
Bank’s effort in providing the first billion dollars for fighting HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to
the Bank, she was Deputy Regional Director of the Africa Region for the AIDS Control and Prevention
project (AIDSCAP) of Family Health International in Nairobi, Kenya. She has also served as Deputy
Director, and later Acting Director, of the National Research Institute of Health in Ethiopia. A clinical
immunologist by training, Dr. Zewdie also established and headed the Referral Laboratory for
HIV/AIDS in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, served as Program Manager of Ethiopia's AIDS/STD Prevention and
Control Program, and taught immunology to medical students at Addis Ababa University. …
30 May 2013:
GHIT Leverages Japanese Innovation in Fight Against TB
See Japan – GHIT for copy of press release
RECENTLY RELEASED PDP REPORTS/ BRIEFING PAPERS/ ARTICLES
Articles in Peer Reviewed Journals
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Alignment of new tuberculosis drug regimens and drug susceptibility testing: a framework for
action. Wells WA et al. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Volume 13, Issue 5, Pages 449 - 458, May
2013
Accelerating next-generation vaccine development for global disease prevention. Koff W et al.
Science Magazine. 31 May 2013; 340(6136)
A Multiplex Microsphere-Based Immunoassay Increases the Sensitivity of SIV-Specific Antibody
Detection in Serum Samples and Mucosal Specimens Collected from Rhesus Macaques Infected
with SIVmac239. Powell RLR et al. BioResearch Open Access. June 2013, 2(3): 171-178.
doi:10.1089/biores.2013.0009. Published online 28 May.
Malaria in South America: a drug discovery perspective. Cruz LR et al. Malaria Journal 2013,
12:168 doi:10.1186/1475-2875-12-168. Published: 24 May 2013
Working together: interactions between vaccine antigens and adjuvants. Fox CB et al.
Therapeutic Advances in Vaccines. May 2013 vol. 1 no. 1 7-20
CD39 is involved in mediating suppression by Mycobacterium bovis BCG-activated human
CD8+CD39+ regulatory T cells. Boer MC et al. European Journal of Immunology. Article first
published online: 29 May 2013. DOI: 10.1002/eji.201243286
Control of Chronic Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection by CD4 KLRG1- IL-2-Secreting Central
Memory Cells. Lindenstrom T et al. The Journal of Immunology. Published online before printMay
15, 2013, doi: 10.4049/ jimmunol.1300248
Inflammation in tuberculosis: interactions, imbalances and interventions. Kaufman SHE & Dorhoi
A. Current Opinion in Immunology. Published online 28 May 2013.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coi.2013.05.005.
UPDATE 52: MAY 1 TO MAY 31, 2013
Other PDP Publications/ Briefing papers
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EXPOSED: The race against Tuberculosis. A four part series of short films on the global TB
epidemic and the race to develop new tools to prevent it. Aeras. May 2013.
Missing medicines, untreated children. Camus-Bablon F. Africa Health. May 2013.
RECENTLY RELEASED PDP RELATED REPORTS/ BRIEFING PAPERS/ ARTICLES
Reports/ briefing papers/ books
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Financing and Coordination of Health Research: Perspectives from Nonprofits on Accelerating
Product Development and Improving Access for Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Global
Health Technologies Coalition. Briefing Paper, Volume 1. May 2013.
One World, One Future. Ireland’s Policy for International Development. Irish Aid. May 2013.
PDP RELATED NEWS/ ARTICLES (SINCE MAY 1, 2013)
HIV/AIDS
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TB
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Other
NTDs
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Vaccines
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Diagnostics
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Community viral load as a measure for assessment of HIV treatment as prevention.
Miller WC et al. The Lancet Infectious Diseases, Volume 13, Issue 5, Pages 459 464, May 2013
A brief history of the global effort to develop a preventive HIV vaccine. Esparza J.
Vaccine. 21 May 2013
A randomized, comparative safety study of a prefilled plastic and user-filled paper
applicator with candidate microbicide Tenofovir 1% gel. Cohen J et al. Sexually
Transmitted Diseases. 23 May 2013; 40(6):476-481.
6 May: Competing antibodies may have limited the protection achieved in HIV
vaccine trial in Thailand
10 May: More woes for struggling HIV vaccine field
19 May: HIV vaccine efforts face several years of 'void' after latest setback
29 May: Researchers seek fresh approach to HIV vaccine
Tuberculosis comorbidity with communicable and non-communicable diseases:
integrating health services and control efforts. Marais BJ et al. The Lancet
Infectious Diseases, Volume 13, Issue 5, Pages 436 - 448, May 2013
The Global Drug Facility and its role in the market for tuberculosis drugs.
Arinaminpathy N et al. The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 29 May 2013.
doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60896-X
Burden and aetiology of diarrhoeal disease in infants and young children in
developing countries (the Global Enteric Multicenter Study, GEMS): a prospective,
case-control study. Kotloff KL et al. The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 14 May
2013. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)60844-2
1 May: International consortium to develop new treatments for kala-azar patients
in East Africa
17 May: Yellow fever vaccination booster not needed
Measuring vaccine confidence: analysis of data obtained by a media surveillance
system used to analyse public concerns about vaccines. Larson HJ. et al. The Lancet
Infectious Diseases, Early Online Publication, 13 May 2013. doi:10.1016/S14733099(13)70108-7
9 May: Millions of girls in developing countries to be protected against cervical
cancer thanks to new HPV vaccine deals: Historic agreements show power of
innovative public-private partnership
18 May: GAVI injects new life into HPV vaccine rollout
7 May: DVD discs double as cheap diagnostic kit for HIV
8 May: Fast, cheap methods of diagnosing infectious disease? They're coming
sooner than you think
UPDATE 52: MAY 1 TO MAY 31, 2013
Other
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Mapping of available health research and development data: what's there, what's
missing, and what role is there for a global observatory? Rottingen J-A et al. The
Lancet, Early Online Publication, 20 May 2013. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)61046
3 May: Research in limbo as Harvard moves to close center
27 May: Sixty-sixth World Health Assembly closes with concern over new global
health threat
27 May: World Health Assembly: As Members Approve Health R&D Decisions, US
Says Time To “Put Our Money Where Our Mouth Is”
28 May: R4D and Save the Children UK announce new partnership on Universal
Health Coverage
UPCOMING MEETINGS
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June 4-5 2013: A Decade of R&D for Neglected Diseases in Africa Endemic Country Research and
Development for Patient Access. Meeting organized by DNDi and KEMRI, Nairobi, Kenya
June 17-19 2013: Global Health Metrics and Evaluation: Data, Debates, Directions (GHME).
Seattle, Washington.
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June 30-July 3 2013: IAS 2013: 7th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment & Prevention.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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October 20-24 2013: Seventh EDCTP Forum. Dakar, Senegal.