A new look, celebrating a milestone, and health care advocacy

A new look

Washington Global Health Alliance is excited to announce our new look! The WGHA team has been working hard the past few weeks to launch our redesigned website and new logo. The website is now live—check it out here: https://www.wghalliance.org/.

Avoiding COVID

There have been more than 97 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the US since the start of the pandemic. Even with all the precautionary measures, such as masking, social distancing, and vaccination, at this point you are more likely to meet someone who has had COVID-19 than someone who hasn’t, but those lucky groups of people are out there. Henry Ford Health explains why some people have been able to avoid it after all this time.

Celebrating a milestone

WGHA member organization Minerva Strategies has reached an important milestone this year: turning 10 years old! The mission-driven communications agency is celebrating a decade of creating positive change through smart communication. Joy Portella, founder of Minerva Strategies, reflects on this milestone and debuts their fresh new look.

Health care for all

Advocating for health equity is an important part of our mission at WGHA and something that we and our members continuously strive for. But what can we do on an individual level to take action for greater health equity? Nick Seymour, manager of grassroots strategy at Partners In Health, shares nine resources for global health advocates to learn about and advocate for health care for all.

Spread of superbugs

PATH, along with the CDC, and Hue Central Hospital have been working with physicians and pharmacists in Vietnam to address the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance, which has become a top global cause of death in recent years, especially in low-resource settings. Read more about what PATH is doing to reduce the spread of superbugs in Vietnam.

Thank you, Senator Murray, for keeping science working!

Washington State’s life science and global health community are celebrating the reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA), which Congress passed and the President signed into law earlier this fall.

Millions of people in the United States rely on innovative medicines to improve their quality of life. And PDUFA helps ensure those breakthroughs in biopharmaceutical science receive timely and thorough consideration by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—so new drugs and treatments can become available to patients.

PDUFA is an essential tool in supporting the FDA in fulfilling its mission to protect and advance public health. For the last 30 years, the PDUFA program has provided additional resources to the FDA for the review of new drugs, while also providing sponsors with greater predictability and enhanced engagement with the Agency during drug development. By providing the FDA with stable and predictable funding that supplements congressional appropriations, PDUFA helps bring new medicines to patients more quickly.

The new law, PDUFA VII, will play a critical role in continuing to advance an effective, science-based regulatory review program and will further strengthen the FDA’s review fundamentals. The overarching PDUFA VII efforts are aimed at modernizing the US regulatory and drug development paradigm and addressing new areas such as digital health technologies, cell and gene therapies, and manufacturing.

US Senator Patty Murray (WA) used her position as Chair of the Health Education Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee in shepherding the PDUFA reauthorization legislation through the US Senate. She worked in a bipartisan way to ensure America's innovation ecosystem works for patients and that the pathway to safe and effective medicines was not imperiled by attempts to derail passage of this critical legislation. Her efforts to bring Democrats and Republicans together to focus on improving health outcomes for the American people is commendable.

Please join us in saying thank you to Senator Murray for her leadership on behalf of Washington State’s life science and global health community.

Around the community

Nov. 28: Fred Hutch is hosting a virtual Global Oncology Lecture Series seminar with guest speaker Richard Sullivan, PhD, Professor of Cancer and Global Health, King’s College London, who will be presenting, “Cancer in the Time of Conflict.”
Nov. 29: Join Fred Hutch for an inspiring conversation about the power of collaboration to accelerate research and discover new cures at their Science Says event.
Dec. 7-8: Save the date for the 2022 Global Health Landscape Symposium. This year’s symposium—the Global Health Council community’s first in-person conference in three years—will address progress and potential in a changing global health landscape.
Dec. 7-8: Register now to join Global Washington for their annual Goalmakers Conference (in person or virtual). The event will convene “Goalmakers” whose work is critical to advancing the Sustainable Development Goals.