June 2010

Dear Colleague,

The last few weeks have been active for us. On June 15, we launched the DRWG’s final report – “The Race Against Drug Resistance” at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. In addition to my presentation of the report recommendations, our distinguished speakers included Representative Jim Matheson (D-UT and Member of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health), David Heymann from the UK Health Protection Agency, John MacArthur from CDC and the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative, and working group members Gail Cassell from Eli Lilly & Co. and Renee Ridzon from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. You can watch the launch here.

The next day, CGD hosted a high-level panel discussion among drug resistance experts at the 37th International Conference on Global Health with the aim of highlighting the critical need for increased and sustained global leadership in this area. As part of both events, a short film on drug resistance, produced by Back to Earth Films, was aired. We invite you to view the film (scroll to the bottom of the page) and to share it widely throughout your networks.

Both events have received comprehensive global press coverage.  Some highlights include: Reuters, Agence France Presse, The Guardian, National Public Radio, Kaiser Daily Global Health Policy Report and The Hindustan Times.

Our task now is to press policymakers and global health organizations to advance the recommendations put forth in the CGD Working Group report, and make drug resistance policy a higher priority. It is fundamental to progress on child health goals, as well as HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB. Monitoring and preventing acquisition and transmission of drug resistant strains of diseases is also an inherent function of stronger health systems. We will continue to advocate for a more coordinated and sustained effort in this area.

The July edition of this e-newsletter will include a list of next steps that we seek from global organizations to advance the drug resistance agenda. As a preview, the World Bank just approved $63 million to support the creation of a regional public health laboratory network in Eastern Africa. This exciting and timely move fits squarely with the DRWG recommendations. The lab strengthening will focus on four countries – Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda – and will include cross-disease drug resistance monitoring. Congratulations to Miriam Schneidman and the team at the World Bank for initiating this project and including drug resistance as a prominent component.

Finally, I would like to make a correction to last month’s e-newsletter. The commitment given by the Global Fund at our Annecy stakeholder meeting should read: “The Secretariat of the Global Fund committed to continue working with Partners on facilitating the enhancement of Pharmacovigilance systems in countries, and more globally, to explore how drug regulatory capacity can be enhanced. The Secretariat is also exploring how it can strengthen drug resistance surveillance in countries.” 

As always, we welcome your thoughts at [email protected].
 
Regards,
 
Rachel Nugent
Deputy Director for Global Health
Center for Global Development

LATEST DRUG RESISTANCE RESEARCH

• Extensive Drug Resistance in Malaria and Tuberculosis (Emerging Infectious Diseases, C. Wongsrichanalai et al.)
• Hidden Drug Resistant HIV to Emerge in the Era of Universal Treatment Access in Southeast Asia (PloS One, A. Hoare et al.)
• Drug Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis of the Beijing Genotype Does Not Spread in Sweden (PloS One, S. Ghebremichael et al.)
• Multi-drug resistant E.coli urosepsis in physicians following transrectal ultrasound guided prostate biopsies - three cases including one death (Canadian Journal of Urology, C.H. William et al.)
• Transfer of Carbapenem-Resistant Plasmid from Klebsiella pneumoniae ST258 to Escherichia coli in Patient (Emerging Infectious Diseases, M.G. Goren et al.)
• Prevalence and Clinical Significance of HIV Drug Resistance Mutations by Ultra-Deep Sequencing in Antiretroviral-Naïve Subjects in the CASTLE Study (PloS One, M. Lataillade et al.)
• Permissive Secondary Mutations Enable the Evolution of Influenza Oseltamivir Resistance (Science, JD Bloom et al.) (Abstract only)
• A call to action: addressing the challenge of artemisinin-resistant malaria (Expert Rev. Anti Infect. Ther., S. Kachur et al.)
  

IN THE NEWS

• Antibiotic resistant bacteria found in shark and other marine life (Ethiopian Review)
• Salmonella outbreak spreading in Illinois (NewsInferno.com)

• HIV-linked TB:  biggest killer in South Africa (VOA News)

Malaria

• Indications of artemisinin resistance in other parts of South Eastern Asia, not just Cambodia (AAP)
• Changing first line treatment from CQ to ACTs in India (Times of India)

HIV

• Impact of PrEP on resistance emergence (AllAfrica)
• Potential alternative to chronic ARV therapy (Business Week)

Other

• Influenza virus mutation yields strain similar to Tamiflu-resistant swine flu (Irish Times)
• Access to medicines index:  results from 2nd edition reveal better performance by European manufacturers over US (Reuters)
• Glass sculptures of killer bugs (New York Times)

PARTNER RESOURCES

• Learn more about and consider joining a recently-formed network of cross-disease drug resistance researchers:  The Institute for Drug Resistance
  

RECENT/UPCOMING EVENTS

• View an updated schedule for the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases (Atlanta, 11-14 July)
• The U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee will hold the third hearing on antimicrobial resistance on or about July 15. The topic will be antibiotic use in animals and agriculture
• Register for the International Pharmaceutical Federation’s 70th Annual World Congress: “Molecule to Medicines to Maximising Patient Outcomes” (Lisbon, 28 August-2 September)
• The 2010 Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (Boston, 12-15 September) is accepting late breaker abstracts through 23 July
  

Call for papers

• Download a preliminary announcement for the Third International Conference on Improving Use of Medicines (Alexandria, Egypt, 10-14 April 2011)
  

WORKING GROUP UPDATE

• In a recent blog, Rachel Nugent profiles a series of resistance-focused sessions being held by the United States Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health and urges the US Government to take up a more global stance and leverage U.S. donor funds to improve drug quality and resistance monitoring
• In CGD’s Global Prosperity Wonkcast series, Lawrence MacDonald interviews Center for Global Development experts and others on innovative, practical policy responses to poverty and inequality in a globalizing world. Listen to this week’s edition, which features Rachel Nugent speaking about “The Race Against Drug Resistance”
• Read DRWG member and CGD colleague Mead Over’s blog on recent research that projects one-fifth of HIV infections will result from resistant strains within 10 years of countries achieving universal ARV access
  

SUBSCRIBE

• Sign up for other CGD e-mails including our weekly Development Update, invitations to our lively and informative events, and occasional newsletters on such topics as impact evaluation, climate change, drug resistance, and the HIV/AIDS Monitor.