💉 A new prevention for HIV; A new vaccine for filoviruses; Quality? What quality?

#566 | Hungry? So are millions around the world; Take your coffee dark; And your Kable darker

Hello, and welcome back to The Kable. Last week, we had a fairly light Kable. This week, it is even lighter. In fact, it it so light this week we almost didn't publish it. But hey, these bills don't pay themselves, do they?

First, some excellent news from the US FDA, of all places. The agency approved a drug that could just be the first step towards ending the AIDS epidemic. The drug, Lenacapavir, proved almost 100% effectiveness at preventing HIV in clinical trials, leading it to be called Science's Breakthrough of the Year last year. The PrEP has been approved as a twice-yearly injectable by the US FDA, with WHO guidelines for it expected to be announced next month at the International AIDS Conference. However, this is The Kable, and so, with every silver lining, comes a dark cloud. In this instance, it is the fact that the drugmaker, Gilead, hasn't announced pricing yet, nor are there any indications yet on how this drug will reach those who need it the most, especially in the Global South.

Elsewhere, CEPI is pumping in a little over $12 million into a global consortium led by Denmark's AdaptVac, which is driving research into a new pan-filovirus vaccine which, if successful, could inoculate against both know strains of Ebola and Marburg and other filoviruses, especially prevalent in Africa.

Sometimes, there is cold comfort to be had in the fact that some things just never change. In India, Glenmark and Natco Pharma provided evidence of this constancy this week, with a little help from the US FDA.

And finally, coffee for the win. New research shows that if you have 1 to 3 cups of black coffee every day, as this editor does, you can practically live forever. As this editor has done so far.

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Stories Of The Week

Hunger, conflict, dystopia... The future imagined in sci-fi movies from the 1980s is here. At least, in some parts of the world. The latest UN Hunger Hotspots report reads like a horror map of the global south. Gaza, Haiti, Mali, Sudan, and South Sudan are now officially in the “highest alert” zone - IPC Phase 5, or catastrophic hunger in layperson terms. Conflict, collapsing economies, climate chaos, and donor fatigue are fuelling an unstoppable chain reaction. In Gaza, 2.1 million people are projected to be in Crisis or worse, with nearly half a million already in Catastrophe. In Sudan, 24.6 million are in Crisis or worse, with over 600,000 in Phase 5. South Sudan is reeling with 57% of its population food insecure and record malnutrition numbers among women and children. Mali’s lean season will be brutal, with access blocked in the north. And in Haiti, record gang violence has cut off supply routes entirely - 8,400 people are already facing famine conditions in Port-au-Prince.

The picture outside the “top five” isn’t much better. Myanmar is reeling post-earthquake, with 2.3 million in Emergency. Nigeria joins the list for the first time. Syria, Yemen, Chad, and Burkina Faso remain on a worsening trajectory.
(GNAFC)

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Breakthroughs

A useful llama. Scientists have identified a new class of llama-derived nanobodies that powerfully neutralise a broad range of SARS-related coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-1 and multiple SARS-CoV-2 variants, by targeting a highly conserved, structurally essential region at the base of the spike protein. Acting like a molecular clamp, these nanobodies lock the spike in its pre-fusion state, preventing infection and making it difficult for the virus to mutate without compromising its own fitness. Research that finally proves conclusively that llamas are good for many things, other than their humps.
(Nature Communications)

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Long reads

Mind over matter? This week's extra-short Kable concludes with this new study in Brain, Behaviour and Immunity that contends that there is a link between your mood when you get vaccinated and the immune response said vaccine generates. And in case you were wondering, the mood needs to be good for better response.
(Brain, Behaviour and Immunity)

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Oh, and Gopal Nair doesn't want you to see this.