๐ BMS beats Sanofi to acquire Mirati; The Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission marks a milestone; The good, the bad and the ugly of GLP-1s
#445 | A spiritual twist to modern medicine; Tea to fight Omicron; Placebos for pain management
Hello, and welcome back to The Kable, dear reader. Last week, the WHO recommended using Oxford Universityโs R21 malaria vaccine. This couldnโt come at a better time, as the current global supply of malaria shots falls far short of what the world - mainly Africa - needs. But an advisor to the Africa CDC is concerned about pharma companies not in Africa producing this vaccine which Africa needs the most. Heโs pushing toย begin the conversation around tech transfer and intellectual propertyย already. Neither Novavax, Indiaโs Serum Institute, nor the University of Oxford have said if theyโd be willing to do so.
In the spirit of making in Africa, Ghanaโs Ministry of Health has indicated that the country isย ready to begin producing its own vaccines by 2025. Ghana aims to produce about 600 million doses annually for cholera, pneumonia, HIV, malaria, rotavirus, and more.
Last week, we told you about Indiaโs drug regulator flagging cough and allergy syrups which were contaminated with ethylene and diethylene glycol. The company in question,ย Norris Medicines, has recalled the products, which were sold only in India.
If youโve found modern medicine lacking, come over to India for a more holistic approach. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has decided it needs a department for spiritual medicine. So what if even AIIMS staff and faculty arenโt happy about this?
Meanwhile,ย Sun Pharma and Aurobindo Pharma are recalling productsย from the US market, citing manufacturing issues. Sun is recalling โsubpotentโ dry eye treatments, while Aurobindo is recalling a Parkinsonโs drug due to โfailed dissolution specificationsโ.
Elsewhere in Asia,ย Agilent Technologies has inked an MoU with East Malaysiaโs Sarawak Infectious Disease Centre, or SIDC. Building on its 20+ years of investments in the country, Agilentโs new tech will support SIDCโs research concerning neglected tropical diseases, other infectious diseases, and diagnostic capabilities over the next three years.
Bird flu is still flying around in Cambodia, with the country reporting itsย second human death from the avian H5N1ย this year. Since 2003, Cambodia has recorded 58 human infections and 39 deaths from the disease.
In a first-of-its-kind partnership, Lightstone Ventures, ClavystBio, Leaps by Bayer, Polaris Partners, the Polaris Innovation Fund, and Evotec SE have launched 65LAB in Singapore. The partners intend toย advance drug discovery and create new therapeutics companiesย by leveraging their global capabilities in terms of financing, networks, and beyond. They will also use Evotecโs end-to-end integrated R&D platform to accelerate the translation of promising academic projects and develop Singaporeโs biotech ecosystem.
Over in China,ย Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products has entered an exclusive agreement with GSKย to co-promote the latterโs shingles vaccine Shingrix in China for an initial period of three years. Zhifei will purchase Shingrix shots worth ยฃ2.5 billion (~$3 billion) in total. Under the agreement, Zhifei has also granted GSK the right of first refusal to be their exclusive partner for any co-development and commercialisation of an RSV shot for older adults in China.
And finally,ย Bristol Myers Squibb is acquiring cancer drug developer Mirati Therapeuticsย for $4.8 billion (and possibly a billion more). BMS's main interest is Miratiโs lung cancer drug Krazati, which targets tumours driven by KRAS mutations. After Amgenโs, this is only the second drug of its type to be approved in the US. But in addition to Krazati, BMS will also gain three other targeted oncology meds currently in clinical testing.ย Too bad for Sanofi, which had also been evaluating potentially buying out Mirati.
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