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• World Bank Board approves new Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response Fund
• Donations will accelerate efforts to bring vaccines to use and facilitate access to new treatments
• Researchers investigate treatment for monkeypox infection, link disease to HIV
• Development of a broadly protective beta-coronavirus vaccine with potential application against disease X
Pandemics and massive outbreaks can claim millions of lives, disrupt societies and destroy economies. The devastating human, economic and social costs of COVID-19 have highlighted the urgent need for concerted action to build stronger health systems and mobilize additional resources for pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPR).
The shortlist of less than 10 emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) has been updated annually since 2015 and has consistently included well-known names such as Ebola, Zika, and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome/SARS (eg , causes of mass infection), and more specific geographic names such as Lassa fever, Marburg virus, Rift Valley fever, and Nipah virus.
In February 2018, the World Health Organization added Disease X to the shortlist as a placeholder for “known unknown” pathogens following the “R&D Blueprint 2018” meeting in Geneva. The Disease X placeholder acknowledges the potential for future epidemics to be caused by unknown pathogens and, by including them, challenges WHO to ensure that its plans and capabilities are flexible enough to accommodate such events.
Preparations start at the country level and include many elements, according to documents prepared by the World Bank and WHO. First, it requires strong and resilient health systems, especially primary care, to facilitate detection of disease outbreaks, provide essential care, and support the deployment of vaccines and other medical countermeasures. Second, it requires surveillance systems and laboratory capacity to detect human and zoonotic disease outbreaks. Third, cross-sectoral coordination mechanisms are needed for prevention and preparedness. Fourth, preparedness requires legal frameworks and regulatory tools to support the deployment of outbreak prevention and response measures. Fifth, well-functioning supply chains and adequate inventories of essential commodities and equipment are required.
Last week, the World Bank Executive Board approved the establishment of a Financial Intermediation Facility (FIF) that will finance key investments to strengthen pandemic PPR capacity at national, regional and global levels, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries. The fund will bring additional dedicated resources to the PPR, incentivize countries to increase investment, enhance coordination among partners, and serve as an advocacy platform. FIF will complement the financial and technical support provided by the World Bank, leverage WHO’s strong technical expertise, and involve other key organizations.
Led by the U.S., Italy and Indonesia, as part of the G20 presidency, and with broad support from the G20 and beyond, FIF has announced more than $1 billion in financial commitments, including contributions from the U.S., EU, Indonesia , Germany, UK, Singapore, Gates Foundation and Wellcome Trust.
In addition, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros welcomed the contributions of Norway and Sweden to the ACT Accelerator, which have been allocated a “fair share”.
Contributions of $340 million from Norway and $300 million from Sweden will accelerate efforts to get vaccines into use, facilitate access to new treatments and ensure health systems can meet the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Norway and Sweden, like Germany, have exceeded their fair share in the ACT-A’s 2021/22 budget, and Canada has pledged to do the same. The “fair share” calculation is based on the size of a country’s national economy and the benefits they would gain from a faster recovery in the global economy and trade.
In February 2022, South African President Ramaphosa and Norwegian Prime Minister Stoll (in their capacity as co-chairs of the ACT-Accelerator Facilitation Committee) called on 55 countries to work together to support global efforts to end the COVID-19 crisis and the urgent need for ACT accelerator institutions contribute their “fair share”.
These contributions from Norway and Sweden strengthen both countries’ strong support for the ACT-Accelerator since its inception in 2020.
ACT-Accelerator is currently facing a funding gap of $11.2 billion, having received contributions totaling $5.6 billion for the 2021/22 budget.
Meanwhile, in a recent study published in the journal Drugs, researchers reviewed monkeypox prevention and treatment measures.
Research comorbidities. Therefore, the researchers believe that developing a personalized treatment based on an individual’s risk of developing severe infection symptoms is the most reasonable approach. “
Additionally, in a recent article published in the International Journal of Infectious Diseases, scientists describe the importance of smallpox vaccination as a preventive measure to control recent outbreaks of monkeypox infection.
In recent outbreaks, a high prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection has been observed in a significant proportion of monkeypox-infected individuals. This observation underscores the need for rigorous surveillance of emerging monkeypox cases to control the trajectory of the recent uprising.
Regarding pre-exposure prophylaxis, antiretroviral therapy has shown high efficacy in reducing monkeypox transmission by 50% under real-world conditions. Vaccination against eradicated variola virus also provided 85% cross-protection against monkeypox infection.
As a pre-exposure precaution, vaccination is particularly recommended for high-risk healthcare and laboratory workers handling monkeypox diagnostic clinical samples or handling orthopoxviruses (monkeypox, vaccinia, and smallpox).
In addition, CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and Codiak BioSciences (NASDAQ: CDAK) on Tuesday announced the latest funding awards under CEPI’s $200 million program to advance the development of a vaccine that provides broad protection against SARS-CoV-2. Development (including its variants) and other beta coronaviruses. CEPI will provide up to $2.5 million in seed funding to Codiak BioSciences, a Cambridge, Massachusetts-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, to continue advancing vaccine candidates in its pan-Betacoronavirus program through preclinical research.
Codiak’s proprietary exoVACC TM platform utilizes engineered exosomes (naturally occurring extracellular nanoparticle vesicles) to precisely control surface or lumen antigen display for selective delivery of antigens, adjuvants and immunomodulators to antigens presenting cells to maximize immune responses. Codiak’s pan-Betacoronavirus vaccine constructs carry the receptor binding domain (RBD) proteins of SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 at high density on the surface of exosomes, binding to structurally constrained, highly conserved T-cell antigens expressed in tubes. In the cavity, the STING agonist is stably loaded. Designed to closely resemble natural viral structures, these engineered exosomes stimulate a broad range of immune responses, including antibody- and T-cell-mediated immunity.
Codiak previously presented preclinical data showing that its vaccine candidate stimulates a comprehensive and durable immune response against multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants and is able to generate antigen-specific T-cell responses against known coronavirus variants. CEPI funding will allow Codiak to further validate its program in preclinical studies evaluating immune responses to known Betacoronaviruses that already pose a significant epidemic or pandemic risk, such as SARS-CoV-1, SARS-CoV-2 and MERS-CoV, and the potential of immune responses to prevent infection and disease caused by these viruses.
If this innovative approach proves successful, it may also be applicable to the development of vaccines against other pathogens in CEPI’s portfolio, including “Disease X,” an unknown pathogen with pandemic potential that has yet to emerge.
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