💉 Novartis shells out the big bucks; From Africa for Africa; A new weapon against malaria?

#515 | Feeling hot, hot, hot; A mix that has more than just spice; Obesity and European kids

May 03, 2024

Hello, and welcome back to The Kable for a relatively light edition. We hope you had a relaxing Labour Day, coupled with strong coffee and light workloads. Oh wait, are we talking about ourselves here?

Well, let's talk about Africa instead. The Africa CDC has said, in no uncertain terms, what it expects for Africa from a new pandemic treaty. The key word is equity. Not too much to ask, is it?

The Gates Foundation is partnering with Saudi Arabia to protect children from polio with Saudi Arabia pledging $500 million over five years to beat back this scourge for good. The announcement also includes an additional $100 million for eradicating poverty across 33 countries.

What does Ghana's health infrastructure need? Well, many things. One of which, according to the World Bank, is increased resilience in the face of climate change. Honestly, if you replaced Ghana with any other country, this would still be true. Makes you wonder why the World Bank is commissioning reports with such Captain Obvious conclusions.

Over in Chile, dengue is raising its ugly head again. And guess what? Health authorities say climate change is the reason.

Quality control issues have been the bane of Indian drug manufacturing for a while. However, as recent news indicates, this may be true for other industries as well. After reporting that Hong Kong and Singapore regulators had banned some spices made in India over contamination concerns, the US too is now reported to be asking questions. And some of the answers the US has found so far don't paint too rosy a picture. Indian regulators, in response, are now expanding their investigation to cover all makers of spice mixes across the country.

Not that concerns over Indian drugs have receded. Drug regulators in India's Uttarakhand state have suspended the licenses for 14 products made by pharma companies of a group famous for its founder's dissing of conventional medicine. Dissing conventional medicine for what, you ask? To promote traditional medicine the group makes. Ah, so none of the traditional medicines have had their licenses suspended obviously? Well...

Speaking of Indian manufacturing, dogs in the US are not big fans of it lately. Last year, infected eye drops made in India led to several alerts, recalls and deaths too. And now, the superbug from that outbreak has found its way to American dogs.

Feeling hot lately? So are many parts of the world. In some regions, the heat is absolutely unprecedented. As a consequence, schools and other learning institutions are being shut.

And finally, to round this section off with some great news, it turns out some commonly used drugs can make the heat that much more harmful to people.

Stories Of The Week

Calling all bird lovers. Apologies in advance, but now that bird flu is in the US, it is kinda difficult to keep it out of the news cycle. So what is new this week? Well, reports indicate that American cows have likely been getting infected for months now. And the WHO says cows outside the UScan get infected too. Talk about bovine moovements, eh? In good news, US regulators tested ground beef and have not found any bird flu remnants in there. However, bird flu remnants in milk from these cows might still be of concern. A report from the US CDC says cats that consumed this milk have died. And yes, the cats were infected. Not that humans are entirely unaffected. We'd reported on a bird flu outbreak at a farm in Jharkhand, India last week. That outbreak has led to 8 people, including two doctors, being quarantined. Last year, roughly around this same time, the same region in Jharkhand had witnessed a bird flu outbreak. At that time, however, only birds needed to be culled and there were no concerns over transmissions to humans. In the US, scientists say human cases might be occurring but are not being recorded. For one, because not enough testing is happening. And because American farmers are reportedly not very welcoming of health officials on their farms. Putting a bow around all this is the WHO, which says the risk of bird flu spreading to humans is relatively low.
(Nature, Reuters, US CDC, Times of India, Down To Earth, NPR, Fortune)

The kids aren't alright. The WHO has released a new report indicating an alarming rise in obesity rates among school-aged children in Europe, attributed to increased sedentary behaviours and unhealthy eating habits during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study, encompassing over 50,000 children from 17 countries surveyed between 2021 and 2023, highlighted a significant shift towards more screen time and less outdoor activity. Despite some positive trends, such as more families eating home-cooked meals together, the overall increase in recreational screen use and decreased physical well-being calls for urgent action. We just need to remember that obesity is not just a developed world problem.
(WHO Europe)

Breakthroughs

Bye-bye malaria. In what could be a groundbreaking stride against malaria, an experimental antibody drug called L9LS has shown promising results in protecting children for up to six monthswith just a single dose. This study highlights the drug's successful trials in Mali among children aged 6 to 10, significantly reducing their risk of infection and disease. This could be a game-changing alternative to existing prevention methods that are often limited by practical constraints and varying effectiveness. Researchers are now hopeful that with further validation, this treatment could reshape malaria prevention, particularly for the most vulnerable populations, promising not just improved health outcomes but also heightened economic viability in regions burdened by this deadly disease.
(NEJM)

Everybody can donate blood. Researchers have discovered innovative enzymes that promise to bring us closer to creating universal donor blood, a breakthrough made possible by a collaboration between the Technical University of Denmark and Lund University. These enzymes, derived from gut bacteria, can strip away problematic components from red blood cells, potentially enabling blood from group B donors to be universally compatible. Challenges remain, particularly with group A blood but the team is hard at work on refining their discovery. This advancement not only revives hope for overcoming previous obstacles in blood transfusion compatibility but also paves the way toward a future where blood shortages and mismatches could become a thing of the past.
(Nature Microbiology)

Corporate

Big bucks and big dreams. Novartis has been on somewhat of a spree this week. First, the Swiss pharma inked a deal worth $2.71 billion with Japan's PeptiDream to expand a peptide-drug conjugate (PDC) collaboration between the two. And then, in continued radiopharma investment, Novartis acquired startup Mariana Oncology, paying $1 billion upfront and bringing home a lead under-development program for small cell lung cancer. Elsewhere in Big Pharma land, Bristol Myers is betting up to $1.8 billion to collaborate with Repertoire Immune Medicines for vaccines for three autoimmune conditions.
(PeptiDream, Mariana, Repertoire)

Bottom line

The future is here. The catastrophic floods that hit the Gulf countries last month have once again highlighted the urgent need for robust climate mitigation strategies. Record-breaking rainfall swamped nations, including the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Oman, causing significant human and economic losses. The financial impact is still unfolding, but early estimates suggest damages running into hundreds of millions of dollars, including disruptions to major infrastructure. Remember all those videos of a flooded Dubai International Airport? These floods, potentially intensified by climate change, underscore the global urgency for investment in climate resilience. Indeed, the cost of proactive climate mitigation is substantially lower than the potential 17% GDP reduction anticipated by 2050 due to unchecked climate change. The Gulf's experience is a critical reminder of the necessity to integrate climate risk assessments into infrastructure planning, employ nature-based solutions, and enhance urban resilience to shield against future extreme weather events.
(WEF)

Long reads

Africa needs African know-how. This week, Africa is hosting the fifth conference of the International Network for Governmental Science Advice in Kigali, marking a significant milestone as it is the first time the continent has hosted this gathering. This conference underscores the unique position Africa holds in shaping sustainable global futures amidst challenges like poverty, food insecurity, and climate change. Who better to talk about it than the team leader of the INGSA-Africa Hub in Rwanda?
(Nature)

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