💊 Pfizer and Flagship's new collab; Africa's new Health Security Partnership; A silent epidemic in Africa

#387 | Zombie trials hurts medical research; Forever chemicals hurt immune systems; Climate change hurts human health

Hello, and welcome back to The Kable this fine Wednesday. Roche has entered a licensing and collaboration agreement with US-based KSQ Therapeutics to co-develop the latter’s cancer drug, KSQ-4279 – a first-in-class small molecule designed to block the protein target USP1.

Teladoc and Microsoft have expanded their partnership, with Teladoc using the latter’s AI services to automate clinical documentation on its telehealth platform.

BridgeBio hasn’t let past failures bring it down. The biotech has had a successful phase 3 trial for experimental medicine, Acoramidis, to treat people with the heart condition transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy. Getting FDA approval is next.

J&J’s 20-year primary patent on drug-resistant TB treatment Bedaquiline expires in many countries this month. Doctors Without Borders is urging J&J not to enforce secondary patents for the drug in countries with a high TB burden.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s FDA has initiated a recall of two batches of GSK’s asthma injection Nucalaafter glass particles were discovered in a vial.

AstraZeneca has said goodbye to its asthma medicine licensing deal with Pieris Pharmaceuticals. This has led the latter to say goodbye to 70% of its staff in a corporate restructuring.

The European Medicines Agency and the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority don’t intend to let antibiotic supply shortages get to the continent this winter. They are partnering with manufacturers and healthcare providers to ramp up production to match supply with demand.

Chinese biotech GeneQuantum has granted InxMed a non-exclusive license to its proprietary technology for developing next-gen targeted ADCs.

Japan’s Chugai Pharmaceutical and Omron Corporation are working collaboratively on automating processes to enhance productivity, improve data quality, and enable innovation in drug discovery research.

Also in Japan, Fujirebio is partnering with US-based Beckman Coulter Diagnostics to strengthen therapeutic development, clinical trials and more in the field of neurodegenerative diseases.

In India, the New Drugs, Medical Devices and Cosmetics Bill will be introduced in Parliament in the monsoon session, which starts this week. But key stakeholders claim that not enough discussions have been held regarding the bill. The Association of Indian Medical Device Industry is urging the Health Minister to recall the draft bill.

In Uruguay, Swiss drone company RigiTech has launched trial beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) flights of medical supplies, marking a first in Latin America.

South Korean biotech GC Biopharma’s quadrivalent flu shot has been approved by the Egyptian Drug Authority – the company’s first thumbs up from Africa.

Senegal and Germany have inked two agreements, with one worth €20 million, to produce vaccines in Senegal.

In Vietnam, two companies are prepared to boost African swine fever vaccine production to serve domestic and international markets.

In Peru, an unusual increase in the number of cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome has led to the declaration of a national health emergency.

In Malawi, a massive polio vaccine drive has been followed by 17 suspected polio cases. In Kenya, three vaccine-derived poliovirus cases in refugee children have been confirmed.

In Nigeria, a possible anthrax outbreak is affecting animals on a farm in Niger State.

And finally, the Arab Union of Producers of Medicines and Medical Appliances has signed an MoU with the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries to expand their cooperation in the pharma industry and encourage trade between the Arab region and Bangladesh.