PDP FUNDERS GROUP
UPDATE 13: FEBRUARY 1 TO FEBRUARY 28, 2010
** 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 February 1, 2010)
Gates
Foundation
Wellcome
Trust
Gates Foundation Global Health Strategies: Strategy Overview
Papers (dated November 09 to February 10) are available for the
following programs
•
Discovery
•
Enteric and diarrheal diseases
•
Family planning
•
HIV/AIDS
•
Malaria
•
Maternal, neonatal, and child health
•
Neglected and other infectious diseases
•
Nutrition
•
Pneumonia
•
Policy and advocacy
•
Polio
•
Tuberculosis
5 February 2010:

The Wellcome Trust has awarded £2.5 million to the Mintaka
Foundation for Medical Research in Geneva to bring a lowcost anti-HIV microbicide to clinical trials
.... 5P12-RANTES is a promising compound developed by
researchers at the University of Geneva's Faculty of Medicine.
Laboratory tests have shown that it has powerful anti-HIV
properties and is also exceptionally efficient at preventing the
emergence of drug resistance.
…The new funding will help Mintaka to conduct a safety trial of
5P12-RANTES, the first step towards full clinical trials.
8 February 2010:

New trials for sterile mosquitoes to fight disease
A Wellcome Trust Translation Award will help trial a pioneering
approach to combat mosquito-borne diseases using genetically
sterilised insects.
… A technique called RIDL, developed by Oxford based company
Oxitec Ltd, uses advanced genetics to modify male insects to be
'sterile'. These mosquitoes, which do not bite or spread disease,
are then released to mate with wild females. No viable offspring
can result from these matings and as a result, the mosquito
population is reduced below the threshold level that is required to
transmit the disease.
Oxitec has created RIDL strains of Aedes aegypti, the principal
mosquito species responsible for spreading dengue fever. The
lead strain - OX513A - has already been tested both in the
laboratory and in contained field conditions.
The Translation Award will be used to fund open field trials to
demonstrate the potential of the RIDL strains to reduce the Aedes
aegypti population to below the threshold level. …
18 February 2010:

New method makes vaccines stable at tropical
temperatures
A simple and cheap way of making vaccines stable at tropical
temperatures has the potential to revolutionise vaccination efforts
in low-income countries. ...
The work, funded by the Grand Challenges in Global Health
partnership with other funds from the Wellcome Trust, is
published in the journal 'Science Translational Medicine'.
"We've developed a very simple way of heat-stabilising vaccines
and shown it works for two viruses that are being used as the
basis for novel vaccines in development," …
"The beauty of this approach is that a simple plastic cartridge,
containing the membrane with vaccine dried on, can be placed on
the end of a syringe," explains Dr Cottingham. "Pushing a liquid
solution from the syringe over the membrane would then release
the vaccine and inject it into the patient."
The process could be used for many types of vaccines and
sensitive biological agents. The next steps are to show that it can
be scaled up to industrial manufacturing levels and also to
demonstrate that it works with a standard or newly licensed
human vaccine. ...
22 February 2010:

Wellcome Trust sets out ten-year plan to tackle major
medical challenges
The Wellcome Trust today unveils an ambitious ten-year plan
challenging researchers to find bold solutions to the most
important questions facing our understanding of health and
disease.
This long-term vision will enable the brightest minds to push the
boundaries of research, and make discoveries leading to new
treatments, technologies and preventative strategies that can
benefit patients and improve health. Wellcome Trust funds will
provide outstanding researchers with the time, resources and
infrastructure necessary to make significant advances. …
PDP Press Releases (since February 1, 2010)
Aeras
22 February 2010

Comments on the US President's Global Health Initiative
(GHI)
Submitted to the US Department of State by Aeras Global TB
Vaccine Foundation and the Global Alliance for TB Drug
Development
We applaud the Obama Administration’s leadership on global
health and commitment to increasing funding in spite of the
current budget situation. The most recently released draft strategy
of the President’s Global Health Initiative (GHI) rightly expands
the US government’s global health policy to address several key
DNDi
FIND
areas. However, we are concerned by the GHI’s stance on
tuberculosis, including a significant disparity in funding compared
to diseases of similar magnitude and a disappointingly meager
requested increase in funding for FY2011. It would appear that
tuberculosis is a relatively low priority for the Administration, which
is puzzling since TB is the world’s second-leading infectious killer
and is the leading cause of death among people living with
HIV/AIDS. One third of the world’s people are infected with latent
tuberculosis; over 9.2 million new infections occur each year; and
1.8 million people die each year from tuberculosis. There is more
tuberculosis now than in any previous year in human history.
Better prevention and treatment are urgently needed, yet will
remain far out of reach if the current GHI proposal is not changed.
…
19 February 2010
 New recommendations to enhance registration processes of
drugs for neglected diseases in Africa
A report commissioned by DNDi assesses pathway to facilitate
review of new neglected diseases’ drugs by African experts
Today, at the ‘Council on Health Research for Development’
(COHRED) and ‘The New Partnership for Africa's Development’
(NEPAD) meeting in Pretoria, South Africa, the Drugs for
Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) and the George Institute for
International Health release the report “Registering New Drugs:
the African Context”. The report issues new recommendations to
strengthen regulatory authorisation processes in Africa for drugs
against neglected diseases.
The recommendations aim at a closer collaboration between
developing and developed countries by involving regulators of
endemic countries in all regulatory assessment of new drugs for
neglected diseases. The report furthermore recommends that the
World Health Organization (WHO) extends its key role in the
prequalification process of new tools against Neglected Tropical
Diseases (NTDs) in addition to HIV/AIDS, Malaria and
Tuberculosis. …
The report also highlights the need to strengthen the regulatory
capacity in Africa through the creation of regional centres of
excellence in each of Africa’s main sub-regions to upgrade skills
and efficiencies of the respective regulatory authorities.
The landscape in research and development (R&D) of new
treatments for NTDs is changing. New tools are developed and
are currently or will be made soon available to populations in
need. …
23 February 2010

FIND and Standard Diagnostics Inc. partner to co-develop
and supply a point of care test for sleeping sickness
A landmark agreement between FIND and Standard Diagnostics
(SD) Inc. in the Republic of Korea will result in commercial
development of a point of care (POC) rapid diagnostic test for
sleeping sickness, also known as human African trypanosomiasis
(HAT). This follows the successful completion of three years of
research by FIND and partners that has resulted in the
identification of a set of probes which, when used alone or in
combination, can accurately detect cases of the disease. Under
the new arrangement, FIND will provide SD with data generated
during the screening process, and facilitate the evaluation,
registration and demonstration of the new test. FIND will also
facilitate access to antigens for phase 1 of the development, and
to serum samples from the WHO Specimen Bank. Standard
Diagnostics Inc., on their part, will develop, market and distribute
the test under terms that guarantee its sustainable access at
costs that are lower than existing tests. …
TB Alliance
26 February 2010

Global Health Initiative Contradicts Past U.S. Govt
Commitments
The following commentary was submitted, by the CEOs of the TB
Alliance and Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation, to the US
Department of State in response to the most recent draft of
President Barack Obama's Global Health Initiative: (see Aeras
above for first paragraph)
PDP Related News/ Articles
Evaluations
FasterCures Philanthropy Advisory Service - Organizational
Reports
•
Aeras
•
TB Alliance
•
DNDi
•
IDRI
•
IOWH
•
MMV
•
MVI
For access to the reports visit the FasterCures Philanthropy
Advisory Service website
Drug
Development

Registering New Drugs: The African context: New tools for
new times. January 2010. Health Policy Division, The
George Institute. Report commissioned by DNDi
General

A Business Plan To Help The ‘Global South’ In Its Fight
Against Neglected Diseases. (2009). Frew S.E, Liu V.Y, and
Singer P.A. Health Affairs, Vol. 28, 6:1760-73

EDCTP
Preclinical Drug Development, Genesis 2009, December
issues focused on Product Development Partnerships.
Articles include:
• MMV: New Paradigms for Drug Discovery from Parasitology
• DNDi: Drug discovery and development for neglected
diseases: the DNDi model
• Other: Neglected no more: fostering innovation fin the
neglected diseases (TI Pharma)
22 February 2010
 EDCTP launches new calls for proposals
The European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials
Partnership (EDCTP) welcomes project proposals as a response
to the following calls:
 Senior Fellowships
 Senior Fellowships linked to regional networks of excellence
 Establishment and strengthening of African National Ethics
Committees and Institutional Review Boards