💊 Novo Nordisk expands its manufacturing capacity; German court postpones BioNTech hearing; Africa loses faith in vaccines

On humans' potential extinction; Going keto to combat cancer; Adding colour to your plate

Hello and welcome back to The Kable this fine Tuesday. In today’s edition, breaches are many, faith in vaccines is low, and we reveal the secret of why you really did well in your SATs.

In India, reports have emerged that the Covid vaccine registration platform CoWIN was affected by a data breach. Personal information, like Aadhar card and PAN card details, of people – including political leaders – who had uploaded their information to the CoWIN portal can be accessed on the social platform Telegram. The Union Health Ministry has dismissed these claims, but has initiated an internal review and requested the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) to investigate the matter nonetheless. The person responsible for this whole fiasco, however, has claimed that they did not breach the CoWIN platform; rather, they exploited vulnerabilities in an associated platform.

Speaking of breaches, AstraZeneca has been found to have breached three clauses of the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority, or PMCPA, in the UK. The company failed to maintain high standards, advertised a prescription-only drug to the public, and encouraged the public to ask their health professional for a specific prescription-only medicine. A LinkedIn post, which an AstraZeneca employee engaged with, is at the centre of this action.

In China, the startup Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals has launched a new antibody discovery platform. For a single target, the platform is capable of generating hundreds of lead antibodies with diverse sequences, offering a feasible solution to obtain bispecific antibodies which are similar in structure to natural mAbs.

In the US, the FDA has said that Covid vaccines being developed and produced for the 2023-24 campaign should be monovalent ones, targeting one of the currently dominating XBB variants.

GE HealthCare has released Reimagining Better Health, a study which highlights the needs, experiences and perspectives of patients and clinicians. It has found that workforce burnout, distrust in AI, low tech interoperability, fragmented care collaboration, and accessibility to care are the main challenges to achieving a better healthcare experience.

We had told you earlier about the lawsuit concerning Covid vaccine side effects being brought against BioNTech in Germany. But on Monday, the first hearing was postponed because the plaintiff’s lawyer doesn’t want the case to be heard by a single judge. We wonder what the judge’s marital status has to do with his work. 🤔

And finally, in Australia, a Covid wave is in progress, but most people haven’t even realised. What’s different this time?