💉 Ghana to make a cholera vaccine; Sinergium to share bird flu vaccine data; CEPI goes into overdrive

#528 | Mpox continues to march across Africa; Argentina reads Minority Report; Covid? Even animals have it

Aug 02, 2024

Hello, and welcome back to The Kable as we welcome August with quite a packed edition for you.

First up, mpox continues to surge across Africa with Kenya and the Central African Republic also declaring outbreaks. So far this year, the continent has seen over 14,000 cases from 10 countries. Sure, vaccines will come someday. What's the hurry? It has only been a little over 50 years since the illness was first reported in Africa. CEPI, however, is initiating a clinical trial to check if mpox vaccination will work after exposure to the virus.

The South African government has issued an RFI to buy the two-monthly anti-HIV jab, CAB-LA to ensure availability through to 2028. The RFI is open to responses till September 9, 2024.

In continuing good news to boost Africa's self-sufficiency, EuBiologics has inked a contract with Ghana's DEK Vaccines to transfer manufacturing technology and supply raw materials for its oral cholera vaccine Euvichol-S.

Elsewhere in Africa, the Africa CDC has partnered with the Africa Public Health Foundation (APHF) in a bid to bolster health infrastructure in AU member states.

300 days into Israel's war on occupied Palestine, the WHO says there is a very real risk of polio running wild in the region. The agency, with partners, has shipped over a million vaccines but with medical facilities notably absent (or destroyed) and with limited access to external providers, administering the vaccines remains a challenge. And polio is not the only disease children of Gaza need to watch for. With almost no sanitation and hygiene facilities, skin disease is having a merry time of it. The only teeny-tiny bit of good news is that the WHO managed to evacuate 85 patients from Gaza, the largest number of evacuees since October last year.

India and the WHO are doubling down on traditional medicine, with India pledging $85 million to the WHO for its Global Traditional Medicine Centre in India.

In green news, the Amazon is on fire and it is not just any ordinary fire. Fires in the rainforest are at levels not seen in the past twenty years. In nearby Chile, the capital Santiago experienced its first July ever with not a single drop of rain.

In more warm environment stories, the recent heatwaves saw temperatures in the Antarctic region rise more than 10C above average.

In contagious news, Japan's Covid wave continues unabated with 11 straight weeks of increases in case numbers. Over in India, 28 deaths have been reported from Gujarat due to the Chandipura virus.

Speaking of contagious, bird flu claimed another human in China. The UK says cattle in the country are more at risk for bird flu. And the US has a $10 million plan to protect farm workers from bird flu. Included in the plan is a push for flu vaccination.

In Greece, apart from the heat, farmers have another worry now: goat plague.

And finally, Argentina plans to use AI to prevent future crime. Nothing could ever go wrong with that, of course.

Stories Of The Week

Leading by example. We've seen how the global North hoarded vaccines in the emergency phase of the pandemic, eventually leading to those vaccines being discarded, while LMICs in Africa and elsewhere struggled to get even contracted vaccine doses. Already with bird flu, we've seen the US and Europe sign deals to stockpile vaccines. Which means if the global South were to require help, in the event of a bird flu pandemic, it'd better rely on itself. The WHO seems to agree. Sinergium Biotech, an Argentine biopharmaceutical company, will share its early-stage mRNA vaccine data for the H5N1 virus with manufacturers in LMICs to aid a fair pandemic response, the WHO announced. This initiative is part of a WHO program that includes 15 countries, aiming to equip poorer regions with the capability to produce vaccines independently. This marks the first instance of a developing vaccine being shared through the network.
(WHO)

Spreading the love. Research from Virginia Tech, published in Nature Communications, reveals that SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid, is widespread among wildlife, with antibodies indicating prior exposure found in five backyard species. The study identified the virus and unique mutations in wildlife, suggesting human-to-animal transmission, particularly near high-traffic areas. Despite no evidence of animal-to-human transmission, the findings underscore the need for broad surveillance due to potential harmful mutations.
(Nature Communications)

Agency Observer

CEPI has yet another busy week of it. Apart from the mpox clinical trial mentioned above, CEPI also launched the Regionalized Vaccine Manufacturing Collaborative (RVMC) strategy for the next three years. The 3Cs of the strategy? Consensus. Coordination. Collaboration. In another announcement, CEPI said Brazil’s Bio-Manguinhos/Fiocruz is joining its network of vaccine manufacturers. And finally, CEPI is investing $5 million in Boost Biopharma. For what? To create vaccines faster using its antigen platform.
(CEPI, CEPI, CEPI)

Breakthroughs

AI to the fore. Researchers have used AI to develop a promising new antibiotic, already showing success in animal trials, by engineering a previously toxic bacteria-killing drug to be safe for humans. Published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, the study describes leveraging large language models, originally designed for text sequences, to reengineer an existing antibiotic called Protegrin-1. This AI-driven method allowed the creation of a safer version, bsPG-1.2, which effectively treated mice infected with multidrug-resistant bacteria. The approach highlights AI's potential to revolutionise drug development, providing quicker and more thorough identification of therapeutic molecules, and advancing the development of safer, more effective antibiotics.
(Nature Biomedical Engineering)

Bottom line

Let them eat cake? In 2022, more than a third of the world’s population, or 2.826 billion people, couldn't afford a healthy diet, a figure that hasn't changed much since 2019, according to the FAO's latest hunger report - The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World. Despite some economic recovery offsetting rising food prices, low-income countries saw their highest levels of food insecurity since 2017. While upper-middle and high-income countries fared better, the disparities highlight a glaring flaw in our agrifood systems. As the FAO report pointedly states, the world remains far from achieving Zero Hunger by 2030, with the uneven recovery underscoring the urgent need for resilient, equitable food systems and innovative investments, especially where fiscal capacities are weakest.
(FAO)

Long reads

Lassa go! Just a little while ago, CEPI announced the first-ever trial for a Lassa fever vaccine. Devex has an excellent breakdown of how this vaccine might finally help beat back a disease that has long been endemic - and fatal - in parts of Africa.
(Devex)

Wither malaria? 2024 is a landmark year in many ways, not the least of which is the fact that we now have malaria immunisation programs. And not just one vaccine for malaria, but two. Stat has a brilliant piece on the long, long journey that made these vaccines possible.
(Stat)

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