💊 No HIV vaccine this decade; No good mosquitoes for Indonesia yet; No lessons learnt from African outbreaks

#488 | Allergy meds for cancer; Viruses for tumour elimination; A case for eating meat

Hello, and welcome to the first - and only - issue of The Kable this Thursday. We have a light edition for you today. The news isn't particularly light, though.

Definitely not in The Democratic Republic of Congo, where mpox is resurgent and has recently mutated to become sexually transmissible as well. As always though, because this is happening in Africa, there are no alarm bells ringing anywhere else in the world.

Enhance the accuracy of demand forecasting; Boost financial resources; and Reinforce regulatory frameworks. That is the opinion of Biovac's chief science and innovation officer on how to bolster vaccine manufacturing in Africa.

There have been several instances recently where we've reported on how genetically modified mosquitoes have been released in cities to fight mosquito-borne illnesses. But Indonesians aren't ready for that just yet, with the government putting the kibosh on plans to let these winged mutants fly.

After recently investing mucho money in bolstering primary health in Indonesia, the Asian Development Bank with a $450 million loan: this time to support the Philippines’ Universal Health Care program.

In South Korea, the Korea Drug Development Fund (KDDF) has chosen Medytox, TiumBio, AbClon, and MedPacto for its "2023 third National New Drug Development Project," an initiative designed to bolster the entire process of new drug development, from discovery to clinical trials. Each selected company is working on promising treatments: Medytox on a drug for myasthenia gravis, TiumBio on a treatment for haemophilia, and AbClon on a candidate for prostate cancer, while MedPacto is working on advanced clinical trials.

Azerbaijan has been making a lot of moves in drug manufacturing lately. The most recent instance is the commencement of a new pharma production plant, which the government says will make drugs for local use and for exports.

2023 has been some year for big acquisitions in biopharma. And AbbVie is determined to ensure the year ends on the same note. Less than a week after shelling out over $10 billion in another buy, AbbVie is now punting $8.7 billion on boosting its neuroscience portfolio with a purchase of Cerevel Therapeutics.

In other Big Pharma news, Sanofi is rejigging its pipeline, promising 12 blockbusters with a focus on immunology, while Pfizer is looking to reduce its lobbying footprint by exiting BIO.

And finally, we end with bird flu with the discovery of H5N1 in a poultry farm in South Korea. And France insisting on "boosters" for ducks.