💊 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 University’s R21 malaria vaccine. This couldn’t 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. He’s pushing to begin the conversation around tech transfer and intellectual property already. Neither Novavax, India’s Serum Institute, nor the University of Oxford have said if they’d be willing to do so.

In the spirit of making in Africa, Ghana’s Ministry of Health has indicated that the country is 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 India’s drug regulator flagging cough and allergy syrups which were contaminated with ethylene and diethylene glycol. The company in question, Norris Medicines, has recalled the products, which were sold only in India.

If you’ve 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 aren’t happy about this?

Meanwhile, Sun Pharma and Aurobindo Pharma are recalling products from the US market, citing manufacturing issues. Sun is recalling “subpotent” dry eye treatments, while Aurobindo is recalling a Parkinson’s drug due to “failed dissolution specifications”.

Elsewhere in Asia, Agilent Technologies has inked an MoU with East Malaysia’s Sarawak Infectious Disease Centre, or SIDC. Building on its 20+ years of investments in the country, Agilent’s new tech will support SIDC’s 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 its second human death from the avian H5N1 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 to advance drug discovery and create new therapeutics companies by leveraging their global capabilities in terms of financing, networks, and beyond. They will also use Evotec’s end-to-end integrated R&D platform to accelerate the translation of promising academic projects and develop Singapore’s biotech ecosystem.

Over in China, Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products has entered an exclusive agreement with GSK to co-promote the latter’s shingles vaccine Shingrix in China for an initial period of three years. Zhifei will purchase Shingrix shots worth £2.5 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, Bristol Myers Squibb is acquiring cancer drug developer Mirati Therapeutics for $4.8 billion (and possibly a billion more). BMS's main interest is Mirati’s lung cancer drug Krazati, which targets tumours driven by KRAS mutations. After Amgen’s, 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. Too bad for Sanofi, which had also been evaluating potentially buying out Mirati.