Reminders—but not free rides—boost COVID-19 booster uptake (2024)

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CARB-X today announced an award of $1 million to Prompt Diagnostics LLC to develop a portable, rapid diagnostic test for antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea.

The money will help the company further develop its portable, cartridge-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) platform, which can detect multiple pathogenic bacteria targets and identify mutations that confer antibiotic resistance. CARB-X (Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator) wants Prompt to focus on demonstrating the feasibility of rapidly detecting Neisseria gonorrhoeae and reliably characterizing resistance to ceftriaxone, which could enable more effective treatment management and promote antimicrobial stewardship.

Ceftriaxone is the recommended first-line treatment, and last remaining effective antibiotic, for gonorrhea, but resistance is growing. An estimated 82 million gonorrhea infections were reported globally in 2020.

A growing public health risk

"Prompt's technology has the potential to efficiently detect the presence of ceftriaxone-resistant gonorrhea, which poses a growing and significant global public health risk," Erin Duffy, PhD, R&D Chief of CARB-X, said in apress release. "Rapid, sophisticated diagnostics are essential to addressing drug-resistant bacterial infections globally, as they detect infections as early as possible while also directing healthcare providers to the most appropriate treatment."

The low-cost test could be particularly useful in low- and middle-income countries, where rates of gonorrhea, and the burden of resistance, is higher and access to secondary healthcare facilities is limited.

Duffy added that CARB-X is partnering with Prompt to"better understand the capabilities of their PCR platform and how it could support decentralized rapid ID and susceptibility testing for all of the major classes of antibiotics."

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Drug regulators in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have approved the emergency use of two mpox vaccines to help curb a surge in cases involving a novel clade 1 strain, Reuters reported today, based on documents and sources involved in the process.

The vaccines include Jynneos, made by Bavarian Nordic, and LC16, made by KM Biologics in Japan, where it is stockpiled for bioterrorism countermeasure purposes. Bavarian Nordic officials confirmed to Reuters that the DRC had approved emergency use, and a KM Biologics source told the news agency that there was potential supply of the vaccine.

Unlike countries battling the global clade 2 mpox, African counties have never had access to vaccines or treatments. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, told Reuters that it is ready to facilitate vaccine donations from the United States and Japan. The group is unable to buy vaccine supplies for lower income countries until specific vaccines are prequalified by the World Health Organization (WHO).

In a recent update, the WHO said the clade 1 outbreak continues to expand in the DRC, with the first case recently detected in North Kivu province, pushing the number of affected provinces to 23 of 26. The virus is spreading through various forms of contact, including sexual and household.

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Yesterday Moderna reported that its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, mResvia, showed only 50% efficacy in preventing the illness after 18 months. The results are disappointing compared to the 81% efficacy seen at 3.7 months.

Moderna’s vaccine also underperformed compared to GlaxoSmithKlein’s vaccine, Arexvy, which was 68% effective over 23.3 months in a clinical trial. Trials have shown Pfizer's Abrysvo to be 78% effective after 16.4 months.

The drugmaker announced the findings late yesterday afternoon at a meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

Last month the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Moderna vaccine for use in older adults, making it the second approved RSV vaccine for adults 60 years and older. ACIP currently recommends all US adults 75 and older receive a single RSV vaccine, and that people ages 60 to 74 also receive a dose of the vaccine.

According to the CDC, 60,000 to 160,000 older adults each year are hospitalized in the United States due to RSV.

Currently the CDC and ACIP are weighing age recommendations for approved RSV vaccines given concerns about the risk of Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) following RSV vaccination.