💊 Lifera’s JV with Resilience; A challenge to Moderna’s Covid vaccine patents; CEPI funds Disease X vaccine development

#416 | Microplastics are making you sick; Air pollution is killing you; (Maybe) Being tall is saving you

Hello, hello. Welcome back to The Kable, dear reader. Best news first today: the Botswana National HIV Reference Laboratory has been designated as a WHO Collaborating Centre of Excellence! The WHO hopes the lab’s excellence in the field of HIV diagnostic testing will enable deeper collaboration between the two of them, helping them to improve the well-being of people living with HIV.

Yesterday, on the margins of the BRICS summit, the African Union (AU) and the expanded BRICS (including Ethiopia and Egypt) deliberated on a collaborative framework for pandemic preparedness, prevention, response and recovery (3P2R).

The Africa CDC and the Africa Public Health Foundation (APHF) have renewed their commitment to support and strengthen health and economic security on the continent. The APHF will be integral in mobilising resources to support Africa CDC’s strategic priorities.

After signing an MoU with Sanofi last month, the Saudi Arabia-based, Public Investment Fund-owned Lifera is now setting up a joint venture with the biomanufacturer Resilience. The partners will establish a large-scale manufacturing facility in Riyadh. The site will produce bacterial and mRNA vaccines, large molecule drugs, mAbs, and other parenterals.

In today’s quota of recall news, India’s Glenmark is recalling 1,200 bottles of a generic high blood pressure medicine in the US due to a manufacturing issue.

In today’s quota of patent lawsuit news, Pfizer and BioNTech are challenging Moderna’s Covid vaccine tech patents in the US.

Still in the US, the FDA is pushing enforcement of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act till at least November 2024.

CEPI and the University of Oxford have entered a strategic partnership to speed up the development of safe, effective and accessible vaccines against outbreak pathogens, including Disease X. CEPI is contributing up to $80 million to fund the development of prototype vaccines.

And finally, in Uganda, there’s a new risk factor for premature mortality: being gay.