Category Archives: Research and Development

STREAM Trial: Nine-month regimen for drug-resistant tuberculosis brings “promising cure rates”

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A randomized, multi-country clinical trial testing a regimen for treating drug-resistant tuberculosis in less than a year against the up to two-year regimen recommended by the World Health Organization in 2011 guidelines, substantiates earlier observed findings showing comparable success rates between the two. The STREAM trial (Standard Treatment Regimen of Anti-Tuberculosis drugs for patients with […]

Vaccinations begin in new Zika prevention trial

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A trial to test the safety of, and immune response prompted by, the latest candidate for a vaccine to protect against Zika virus infection has begun with injections among the first of what is planned to be 28 adult participants. Of the participants, 20 will receive an injection of a live, weakened non-replicating Zika virus created […]

WHO Essential Diagnostics List provides guide to tools needed for global health responses

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Tools to diagnose and monitor HIV, hepatitis B and C, and tuberculosis, as well as resistance to first-line TB treatment are among the tests included in World Health Organization’s first List of Essential In Vitro Diagnostics, released Tuesday. The list, divided into tests needed in primary health care settings that can include community health centers […]

Report: Develop surveillance, diagnosis, treatments and vaccines to prepare for catastrophic pandemic potential pathogens

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The next disease with the potential to sweep the planet with devastation on a scale of that caused by the influenza pandemic of 1918 is likely also to be caused by a virus. As happened then, the virus will likely be spread by the unavoidable act of breathing, and transmitted by people who don’t feel […]

WHO report on global antibiotic resistance highlights growing threats in the face of surveillance gaps

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Surveillance data from 22 countries show some of the world’s most common and potentially deadly infections gaining  ground globally against the antibiotics used to treat them, while monitoring, coordination and communication gaps hamper efforts to both assess and respond to the scope of the threat, a report released by the World Health Organization Monday shows. […]

TB R&D spending climbs — but not enough

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In time for meetings of international leaders, 2016 boost in TB investments sets new — but low — bar, as well as impetus to gain on momentum, advocates say Investment in research and development toward new tuberculosis drugs, diagnostic tests and preventive measures increased in 2016 for first time in seven years, exceeding the previous […]

Investigation of fatal congenital Zika cases show injury to spinal cord caused by virus

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Report gives evidence that neurological impacts of Zika go beyond effects on brain development By the time pediatric pathologists explored the cases reported in the August Clinical Infectious Diseases of two infants, both congenitally infected with Zika, both of whom had died shortly after birth, knowledge of the damage the virus could do to the […]

In wake of Ebola healthworker toll, challenge builds better personal protective equipment

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One of the most dangerous times for health workers during the 2014 – 2016 Ebola crisis in West Africa came when they took off the protective gear that covered them head to toe as they cared for patients. An intricate process of removing at least half a dozen overlapping layers of equipment, the “doffing” of […]

Biomedical research benefits bring House members, NIH leaders together

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In the face of a proposal by the Trump administration to cut funding for the National Institutes of Health by nearly a quarter with an $8 billion drop, House members hold a hearing that covers “from AIDS to Zika,” the “Cancer Moonshot,” the quest for a universal flu vaccine, how researchers working in their own […]

Semifinalists in NIH/BARDA diagnostic test challenge aim to thwart antimicrobial resistance

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Submissions propose tests to ward of unnecessary, ineffective antibiotic use “Think ‘home pregnancy test’ but for nearly any infectious disease,” — specifically for drug-resistant gonorrhea — one submission proposed, describing a fast, cheap, disposable device that would make diagnosing infectious diseases “almost as simple as taking a patient’s blood pressure.” Another submission described a quick blood […]