💊 Health Impact Investment Platform for LICs and LMICs; MPP sub-license agreements for Covid antivirals; US FDA draft guidance on medical trips

#370 | Dr Reddy's new generics division; Covid origin still unknown; A new type of depression

Hello, and welcome back to The Kable. It’s a new day, a new week, but hardly new news, as junior doctors in England are planning to strike yet again, this time for five days starting July 13.

In India, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories is entering the trade generics business with its new RGenX division, aiming to reach over 1.5 billion patients by 2030.

In the US, the FDA has released a draft guidance on conducting clinical research into the use of psychedelic drugs like psilocybin, LSD, and MDMA to treat medical conditions. They are currently accepting comments on the draft.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Agence Francaise de Développement have launched a new $240 million strategic partnership to fund projects focusing on maternal and child health, sexual and reproductive health, social protection, WASH, nutrition, and climate resilience in Africa and South Asia.

The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) has inked 7 sub-license agreements for Japanese pharma Shionogi’s Covid antiviral, ensitrelvir fumaric acid. The agreements were signed with 3 generic manufacturers from China, two from India, one from Ukraine, and the last from Vietnam. The selected manufacturers will be permitted to produce and supply the antiviral in 117 LMICs, pending regulatory approval in the respective countries.

A report, declassified on Friday, by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence claims that US intelligence agencies have found no direct evidence of Covid emerging from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology. Still, they can’t rule out the possibility that SARS-CoV-2 came from a lab. Basically, the news is that there is no news.

Meanwhile, scientists at New York University Abu Dhabi have developed a quick, simple, and inexpensive testing method for Covid antibodies; it uses an adhesive bandage and gold nanoparticles to do the job.

An Oxfam report claims that the UK government’s policy of investing in private healthcare in developing countries is flawed and should be halted. These funds should instead be redirected to strengthen public health systems, especially since reports indicate that some of the private hospitals receiving such funding in Kenya and India have been holding patients hostage or denying them essential care over the payment of bills.

In Zimbabwe, the Medicines Control Authority has warned against the use of two cancer medicines, Isotretinoin and Thalidomide, without consulting a specialist dermatologist or oncologist first. The agency claims that the drugs can cause birth defects when taken by women of childbearing age as well as other adverse effects.

And finally, Pakistan is ready to begin locally producing a vaccine against sheep and goat plague, a highly contagious animal disease which the country aims to eradicate by 2028. Currently, the disease is causing the country losses of Rs 60 billion per year.