💊 Marion Biotech gets a second chance; BMGF, partners put polio on exit route; UNICEF secures malaria vaccine supply

#448 | A catalogue for microbial protein families; Evading AMR with direct-to-stomach drug delivery; No escape from PFAS

Hello there. Welcome back to The Kable for an edition that’s taking quite the trip around the world. Our first stop is the UAE, where the Emirati Human Resources Development Council and the Dubai Health Authority have inked an MoU to cooperate in accelerating Emiratisation in healthcare. This includes incentivising the employment of Emiratis, training them to develop their expertise, and modernising and developing the healthcare sector.

Next is the Global Forum for Adolescents, where a gathering of the African Union, UNESCO, UNFPA, WHO and IPPF launched the Continental Strategy on Education for Health and Well-being of Young People. This strategy aims to enhance the physical, mental, and reproductive health of the African youth by recognising the profound connections between health and education.

Meanwhile, the winners of the second edition of the Africa Young Innovators for Health Awardhave been announced. The first prize went to Teniola Adedeji, the CEO of Pharmarun, a company improving medication access in Nigeria and to Dr Moses Ochora, CEO of Uganda’s Photo-Kabada, which aims to minimise the impacts of neonatal jaundice in LMICs.

Patient organisations have unique insight into the challenges faced by patient communities, making them a valuable resource for pharma companies, providers, and policymakers to learn from. This IQVIA white paper dives into how patient organisations in Africa are advancing healthcare.

Of the global shortage of 10 million healthcare workers, Africa alone is short of 5.3 million, highlights the former President of the World Medical Association. He called on African countries to create enabling work environments and competitive wages for workers in the sector to prevent them from seeking greener pastures abroad. Africa already knows the solutions; now it has to implement them.

Further North, Egypt is considering enhancing cooperation with Switzerland’s Novartis in the fields of oncology, immunity, and heart diseases.

Vivos Therapeutics, meanwhile, inked an exclusive distribution agreement with NOUM DMCC, a Dubai-based company to meet the growing demand for obstructive sleep apnea treatments in the Middle East and North Africa.

Still in the MENA region, Hikma Pharmaceuticals has entered an exclusive license agreement with Korean biopharma CanariaBio. The partners will focus on cancer immunotherapies, with Hikma gaining an exclusive license to commercialise Oregovomab in 18 MENA countries.

In another Middle East-Asia alliance, South Korean vaccine developer Quratis Inc has inked a term sheet with Iraq’s Health and Medical Education Authority. The partners will launch joint projects for tech transfer of vaccine platforms, vaccine plant construction, and vaccine research centres.

Over in Guyana, there is a renewed commitment to establish a biomedical hub to meet the Caribbean’s biopharma needs.

Back in Asia, Biocon’s Malaysia production facility has received a complete response letter, or CRL, from the FDA saying that the facility must undergo a pre-approval inspection to resolve problems discovered in 2022. This is a roadblock for Biocon’s insulin copycat Aspart, but there is no impact on the production or distribution of the rest of the company’s commercial portfolio.

In a major milestone, scientists from the biotech eGenesis have accomplished long-term kidney transplants from pigs to primates. They’ve employed a clinically translatable immunosuppression protocol to enable a primate that received a genetically modified pig’s kidney to live as long as two years without rejecting the organ.

In India, startup Primary Healthtech has developed a point-of-care testing device to test 25 parameters in blood and diagnose chronic diseases linked to the kidney, liver, heart, and pancreas. This device could make early NCD screening more accessible and affordable to people in remote areas.

Just two weeks after completing its acquisition of Reata Pharmaceuticals, Biogen is yet again laying people off. Effective late next month, the newly combined company is letting go of 113 people.

CEPI is collaborating with IQVIA to harness its expertise and resources in implementing global clinical research strategies and procedures. The aim is to rapidly generate clinical evidence around vaccines and other biological countermeasures. The collaboration will also support research preparedness to strengthen clinical research capacity in LMICs. This initiative is part of CEPI’s 100 Days Mission.

And finally, insurance marketplace Lloyd’s warns that a “plausible increase” in climate change-linked extreme weather events could trigger global economic losses worth $5 trillion over a five-year period.