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

Related publications:

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

Unitaid supports call for intellectual property waivers and action for access to COVID-19 products

Geneva – Unitaid calls on countries to take the necessary measures to facilitate and promote access to vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics that will help fight the COVID-19 pandemic. This should include ensuring that they have the legal and health systems in place that enable fast production, importation, registration and deployment of effective products, once these become available.

In this context, Unitaid welcomes the proposal submitted by India and South Africa to the TRIPS Council for a temporary waiver on copyrights, industrial designs, patents, lay-out designs of integrated circuits and trade secrets/undisclosed information for products to prevent, contain or treat COVID-19.

Every solution that helps remove potential access barriers is welcome according to Marisol Touraine, Chair of the Unitaid Executive Board and former French Minister of Health, and will help countries to face the pandemic with new tools.

Marisol Touraine stressed that, “the waiver will not solve all challenges, but it is an important step. While countries and companies also need to do their part, this sends a clear message that we are facing an urgent and exceptional situation, that requires exceptional measures.”

Unitaid believes that a range of solutions will be needed in order to ensure that people across the globe have access to the products needed to combat COVID-19. “Just as we will need a range of products – such as protective equipment, tests, medicines and vaccines – to tackle COVID-19, we will need multiple approaches to ensuring access”, said  Dr Philippe Duneton, Unitaid Executive Director a.i., “Information sharing, voluntary licensing, technology transfer, flexibilities and waivers can all contribute to expanding access.”

For information on Unitaid’s response to COVID-19 please see https://unitaid.org/covid-19/#en

Media contact: Martin HARVEY | +41 79 249 35 29 | harveym@unitaid.who.int

Other enquiries click here

The Hummingbird. Unitaid News – October 2020

Unitaid News, October 2020: Global health beyond COVID-19

France gives extra US$11 million to support Unitaid work on COVID-19 therapies

Geneva – Unitaid is pleased to announce that France has contributed €10 million (US$11 million) to Unitaid’s work in the Therapeutics Partnership of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A). This is in addition to the core funding that France provides to Unitaid.

The Therapeutics Partnership is co-convened by Unitaid alongside Wellcome. The two organisations are charged with leading global efforts to develop, manufacture and distribute treatments for all stages of the disease; to prevent, suppress, treat and support recovery from COVID-19.

“On behalf of Unitaid and our partners at Wellcome, I am really grateful to France for this extra support for our work to deliver medicines and therapies against COVID-19,” said Dr Philippe Duneton, Unitaid Executive Director, a.i. “We hope France will show the way to other donors to support the urgent and important work we need to do for therapeutics against this epidemic”.

The Therapeutics Partnership’s aim is to discover treatments fast; produce at scale and enable access; and deliver to all. Effectives therapies are needed to treat people affected by COVID-19, even if vaccines become available. The earlier people get access to therapeutics, the greater the impact for health, for health system burdens, and for our economies.

The Partnership is actively looking at some 1,700 trials and has already identified several promising candidates, including antivirals and monoclonal antibodies. Manufacturing capacity and procurement arrangements are being put into place, with active preparation for supply and deliver. These treatments will be on the market in the coming months and should be available in all parts of the world. The ACT-A Therapeutics Partnership need resources to ensure equitable access to these medicines in LMICs.

Unitaid and Wellcome, together with all the ACT-A partners, call on leaders around the world to respond decisively to this public health and economic challenge. Effective medicines and therapies are a key part of the response, especially for those for whom vaccines are not suitable or because they are simply not available for any reason.

No-one is safe until everyone is safe. Where you live, shouldn’t determine whether you live.

The time has come to ACT. ACT Now. ACT Together. ACT to end COVID-19.

For information on Unitaid’s response to COVID-19 please see https://unitaid.org/covid-19/#en

Media contact: Martin HARVEY | +41 79 249 35 29 | harveym@unitaid.who.int

Other enquiries click here