Monash research acknowledged by Hillary Clinton
United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton has acknowledged Monash University researchers for a life-saving new drug concept at the Saving Lives at Birth global challenge forum held yesterday in Washington DC.
Following the forum, at which Monash University researcher Dr Michelle McIntosh spoke, the research team received funding to engineer a drug that could save the lives of mothers of newborn children in developing countries.
The project has the potential to dramatically reduce the number of women dying, approximately 150,000 women per year, at childbirth from postpartum hemorrhage. Postpartum hemorrhage is a massive and potentially fatal loss of blood after delivery of a baby.
The team of researchers at the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, will attempt to develop the drug oxytocin for aerosol delivery. Oxytocin is the drug of choice for treating postpartum haemorrhage.
The project was recognised as the most significant of all the projects presented at the two-day forum through a ‘peer award’.
Secretary Clinton highlighted at the forum the potential game-changing impact of the Monash University project.
In her speech, Hillary Clinton said: “If you are dealing with the very common problem of bleeding during childbirth the most common treatment, a drug called oxytocin, is delivered by injection.
“Converting that medical intervention into an aerosol spray that can be inhaled through a simple disposable device immediately after childbirth – no needles, no cold storage, no bloodborne diseases – has the potential to save many lives,” said Secretary Clinton.
Dr McIntosh said she and her team were delighted to be recognised by Secretary Clinton and their colleagues around the world.
“It’s a great honour to be acknowledged for our work on this global campaign affecting third-world countries. I feel privileged to be able to present our potentially game-changing idea to such an audience, including the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.
“The funding will be used to develop our research project into a viable treatment which could stop unnecessary loss of life in developing countries, where currently, one woman bleeds to death every three minutes,” said Dr McIntosh.
A partnership between the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Government of Norway, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada and The World Bank, ‘Saving Lives at Birth’ sought “innovative prevention and treatment approaches for pregnant women and newborns in rural, low-resource settings”.
Currently, oxytocin can be delivered only by injection and must be kept refrigerated. This poses numerous barriers for women in rural areas, where refrigeration is limited and needle-stick injuries have the potential to increase the transmission of blood-borne viruses. Administration of oxytocin via injection also means a trained medical person must be present at the time of birth, however, in developing countries less than 50 per cent of women give birth in a hospital.
Dr McIntosh said she and her team would now start work on engineering an oxytocin powder which will allow patients to inhale the drug immediately after childbirth.
“This approach will remove the need for cold-chain storage and will open up the possibility of oxytocin being available to women in situations where highly trained health workers are not available,” Dr McIntosh explained.
The Development xChange Forum, including Dr McIntosh’s presentation, Low cost, needle-free and non-refrigerated treatment for postpartum haemorrhage, can be viewed at Saving Lives at Birth website.