Unitaid welcomes US$40 million from Norway to fight COVID-19

Geneva – Unitaid is pleased to welcome a contribution of NOK 350 million (US$40 million) from Norway towards its vital work on COVID-19 treatments and tests.

As a founding member of Unitaid, Norway has been a longstanding supporter of its efforts to bring forward life-saving global health innovations.

This funding will enable Unitaid to advance the development and equitable access to therapeutics and diagnostics for COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries, under the umbrella of the global Access to COVID Tools Accelerator (ACT-A).

The focus will be twofold: firstly, collaborating with FIND and industry partners to push forward the development of high-quality, affordable self-tests for COVID-19 that are suitable for use in low-resource settings.

Secondly, Unitaid will work with ACT-A partners to adapt COVID-19 treatments and initiate country preparedness for promising treatments such as monoclonal antibodies.

Dr Philippe Duneton, Executive Director of Unitaid, said: “I would like to express my gratitude to Norway for the significant contribution to Unitaid to advance the development and equitable access to therapeutics and diagnostics for COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries. The Norwegian contribution will be vital to enhance disease control and hopefully decrease severe illness in the coming year.”

Norway’s Minister of International Development, Dag-Inge Ulstein said: “Unprecedented global collaboration has significantly advanced our understanding of what works to fight the disease and has contributed to major progress in the past months. However, we must remember that vaccines are only one part of the solution. We must ensure equitable access not only to vaccines, but also to tests and medicines, as well as strengthened health systems. We can only end this pandemic if we use all the tools in the toolbox.”

Media contacts: 

Hervé Verhoosel | +44 7729 618634 | verhooselh@unitaid.who.int

Charlotte Baker | tel. +44 7904 460 181 | bakerc@unitaid.who.int

Unitaid welcomes contribution from Canada

Geneva – Unitaid welcomes contribution of C$15 million (US$11.7 million) from Canada to its ongoing work on COVID-19 therapeutics and diagnostics under the global Access to Covid-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator.

The funding, which forms part of a C$255 million overall package of support to the ACT-Accelerator, has been allocated to Unitaid to support equitable access to promising COVID-19 treatments and tests.

This important contribution to the ACT-A Therapeutics Pillar will be used to expand and adapt the portfolio of fit-for-purpose monoclonal antibodies for low- and middle-income countries, and address issues of supply, affordability and uptake of care.

Canada has also announced funding of C$230 million to procure monoclonal antibodies for low- and middle-income countries. This investment from Canada will ensure that should the treatment prove effective, it will reach low-resource countries at the same time as high-income ones.

Unitaid Executive Director Philippe Duneton said: “Unitaid commends Canada for its commitment to the principle of making treatments and tests for COVID-19 available to everyone who needs them. This contribution to Unitaid will help us make those principles a reality.”

Media contact:  

Hervé Verhoosel | +44 7729 618634 | verhooselh@unitaid.who.int

Strategy development launched and new areas for intervention agreed at 37th meeting of Unitaid’s Executive Board

Geneva – Unitaid will expand its portfolio to target challenges in reducing maternal mortality and tools for detecting tuberculosis, as a result of decisions taken at the 37th meeting of its Executive Board.

Held virtually from the 9th to 10th December 2020, the meeting also saw Unitaid launch the development of its new strategy for 2022-26, agree its budget for 2021 and invite Japan to join the Executive Board.

The Board has approved an external review as an important step towards the development of Unitaid’s next strategy. As a key component of this process, extensive stakeholder engagement will be undertaken throughout 2021, to gain the thoughts and inputs of Unitaid’s partners, grant implementers and civil society groups.

The new areas for intervention agreed by the Board focus on challenges that are deeply relevant to Unitaid’s core work, namely reducing the number of women who die in pregnancy or childbirth, and increasing the detection of TB.

Almost 300,000 women died as a result of pregnancy or childbirth in 2017, mostly in low- and middle-income countries. Unitaid sees great potential in new tools to treat post-partum haemorrhage and pre-eclampsia in particular, leveraging our comparative advantage and strong track record in related areas.

Tuberculosis detection is recognised as a high-impact area for intervention which could play a significant role in advancing both the WHO End TB strategy and the Sustainable Development Goals. Without substantial investment in detection tools, TB will continue to be a leading cause of death in many low- and middle-income countries and among the most vulnerable. Unitaid is pleased to take this opportunity to examine the potential impact of innovations, particularly in the areas of non-sputum based testing and integrated diagnostic solutions, while leveraging the learnings from COVID-19.

Unitaid’s Executive Board Chair Marisol Touraine said: “I am proud that Unitaid’s Executive Board showed ambition and openness. This meeting was extremely productive and strategic. We were able to express a clear and strategic vision for Unitaid to build on its historic ground-breaking work, as well as areas such as maternal and child health, while maintaining its vital role in the fight against COVID-19. This meeting was also an exciting moment as we expanded our Executive Board for the first time in many years by creating a temporary board seat and welcoming Japan, as well as taking the first steps towards developing the new strategy for 2022-26.”

Unitaid’s Executive Director Philippe Duneton said: “It is fantastic to see the board approve future investments in the fields of maternal health and TB detection, which are key elements of Unitaid’s mandate. It is clear that innovation has a vital role to play in bringing down the number of deaths of women during childbirth and pregnancy.  Improving how TB is detected, and identifying cases of TB more quickly and easily is even more important in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Media contact:  

Republic of Korea contributes US$1 million to increase access to COVID-19 diagnostics

Geneva – Unitaid is pleased to announce that the Republic of Korea has contributed a US$1 million to support the Diagnostic Partnership of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A). This extra funding comes in addition to the core financial support provided by the Republic of Korea to Unitaid.

Effective and rapid testing strategies are crucial to ensure the COVID-19 pandemic is brought to an end. The ACT-A has identified that an estimated 500 million COVID-19 diagnostic tests will be needed in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) by mid-2021.

Within the Diagnostic Partnership co-led by FIND and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Unitaid plays a key role in accelerating the development and securing production capacities of rapid, affordable and quality-assured antigen diagnostic tests (Ag RDTs) to meet the needs of LMICs.

Reliable, affordable Ag RDTs have been identified as key tools in the global response to COVID-19, as they could substantially reduce the transmission of COVID-19, by enabling more rapid identification and isolation of active cases. Ag RDTs are far faster and easier to perform than RT-PCR tests and can more readily be decentralized within countries and in places with limited access to laboratory facilities.

The Diagnostics Partnership has been instrumental in making quality rapid antigen tests available, including 120 million tests reserved for low- and middle-income countries purchase within just 8 months.

The additional contribution of the Republic of Korea will be used to support Unitaid’s efforts to enable access to testing worldwide.

“We thank the Republic of Korea for this additional support which will help improve access to rapid diagnostics. Making efficient, affordable and quality-assured tests available for all is essential to eliminate COVID-19,” said Dr. Philippe Duneton, Unitaid’s Executive Director.

“Diagnosis is the beginning of the process of defeating COVID-19. As a long-standing partner of Unitaid, we commend Unitaid and ACT-A partners’ efforts to combat COVID-19. The Republic of Korea has been actively participating in the work of ACT-A. We hope that this contribution, in addition to our bilateral assistance to more than 120 countries, will lead to greater access to diagnostics for developing countries,” said Cho Yeongmoo, Director-General for Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and board member of Unitaid.

M. Cho Yeongmoo, on behalf of the government of the Republic of Korea and Dr. Philippe Duneton signed the memorandum of understanding outlining the country’s support, following a bilateral discussion on December 2.

Media contact: Maggie Zander | +41 79 593 17 74 | zanderm@unitaid.who.int

Unitaid supports ANTICOV, an adaptative platform trial in Africa to treat mild to moderate cases of COVID-19

Geneva –  Unitaid has come together with the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the KfW Development Bank to invest in a ground-breaking clinical trial of COVID-19 medicines that are adapted to the needs of low-and middle-income countries.

This innovative trial named ANTICOV will cover 13 countries across Africa and be implemented by a consortium of partners led by Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) including 26 African and global research and development organizations.

It seeks to identify treatments that prevent patients with mild to moderate symptoms from progressing to severe disease, thereby reducing transmission of the virus and the need for hospitalisation.

Both outcomes are particularly important in countries with weaker health systems and where quarantine is difficult to implement. Importantly, ANTICOV will look at treatment options for vulnerable people, such as those with coinfections including HIV, TB and malaria.

Most research into COVID-19 medicines is taking place in high-income countries, thereby limiting the development and relevant testing of products adapted to lower-income settings.

Dr. Philippe Duneton, Unitaid’s Executive Director said: “ANTICOV is an important platform to facilitate clinical trials for treatments for COVID-19 in low-resource settings. This is recognised as a key issue by the ACT-A Therapeutics partnership led by Unitaid and Wellcome and will help enable equitable access to medicines against COVID-19 in low- and middle-income countries. Unitaid is pleased to support this important project.”

The trial will evaluate affordable treatments that are already in the market and can be quickly deployed on a large scale. The ultimate goal is to put forward candidate medicines for treatment of mild COVID-19 disease, inform WHO recommendations with conclusive evidence, and support policy change towards test-and-treat strategies for the virus across low- and middle-income countries.

Unitaid funding is part of its response under the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A). Unitaid is a co-convener of the ACT-A Therapeutics Partnership alongside Wellcome.

Media contact: Maggie Zander | +41 79 593 17 74 | zanderm@unitaid.who.int

“Unlocking the door to oxygen access – pulse oximetry as part of a holistic approach”

“Unlocking the door to oxygen access – pulse oximetry as part of a holistic approach”

UnitaidExplore invests in second award to improve oxygen access

Geneva – Access to oxygen is one of the defining health equity issues of our time – and the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown this into sharp relief.

Healthcare facilities in low- and middle-income countries suffer from chronic shortages of medical oxygen, resulting in more than 2000 children dying every day from pneumonia.

On World Pneumonia Day 2020, Unitaid is pleased to announce the latest recipient of funding from its agility mechanism UnitaidExplore, following a call for innovations that expand access to oxygen.

The EssentialTech Centre, part of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, will become the second organisation to take forward an exciting innovation with backing from UnitaidExplore, following the first award to Vayu Global Health.

The $1.6 million funding will be used to develop a new, affordable oxygen concentrator designed for use in remote health centres, as well as an integrated oxygen delivery service.

Oxygen concentrators take air from the atmosphere and convert it into medical oxygen. They can be an effective solution for treating children and adults in respiratory distress in low-resource environments, but are made up of complex individual components, meaning that just one broken piece can put the machine out of commission for days.

These breakdowns can leave children and adults without access to essential, life-saving oxygen treatment, and ultimately result in preventable deaths.

EPFL’s EssentialTech Centre aims to overcome these difficulties by improving the components of the concentrator technology. This involves developing a device to resist hot, humid conditions where power is intermittent and of poor quality. The concentrator will also have the ability to store both oxygen and electricity, even when power is unavailable.

The technology will complement an oxygen delivery service developed in collaboration with the Centre for Public Health and Development in Kenya and the EssentialMed Foundation in Switzerland, which includes both training and maintenance to help ensure affordable and reliable access to oxygen.

Unitaid’s Director of Strategy Janet Ginnard said: “We were compelled by the EPFL application and what they are trying to do. Starting with a holistic look at oxygen delivery and how all the pieces fit together, EPFL EssentialTech has proposed a solution that will make an impact on the health of children and adults in respiratory distress. We are excited to support them in advancing their ideas, as our second UnitaidExplore recipients.”

Leader of the EssentialTech Centre’s GlobalO2 Program Gene Saxon said: “Oxygen is an essential medicine that should be available to every child that needs it, no matter where they are born. This funding from Unitaid not only accelerates the development of an affordable and robust oxygen concentrator, but supports a fee-for-service model of oxygen delivery that includes both maintenance and training. This holistic approach will allow health-care workers to spend more time focusing on their patients, rather than their equipment.”

UnitaidExplore has recently launched its next call for applications, focusing on innovations to increase access to medicines for children. For more information, go to Innovative formulation and delivery solutions for children’s medicines in low-resource settings

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Media contact: Charlotte Baker | +44 7904 460 181 | bakerc@unitaid.who.int

In times of COVID-19, innovation has a crucial role to play to eliminate tuberculosis

In times of COVID-19, innovation has a crucial role to play to eliminate tuberculosis