💊 Pfizer+Valneva cut participants from Lyme disease trial; US FDA gives Cipla 8 new observations; Malaria mosquites learn to travel more

#280 | Aussie whales go fighting; Bird flu? A new sighting; New viruses kill bacteria, so exciting.

Hello, and welcome back to a new week with a longer-than-usual Monday Kable.

India's Anthill Ventures is collaborating with South Korea's SparkLabs to boost biopharma and healthcare ventures from these countries, allowing them to grow internationally.

Valneva's big vaccine hope is its Lyme disease candidate being developed with Pfizer. The shot is in clinical trials, but the companies have now dropped half of their trial participants after the clinical site operator broke rules.

In India+US FDA news, Cipla gets 8 new observations from the agency after an inspection of its Pithampur unit, while Lupin gets an EIR for its plant in Nagpur.

In more US FDA news, the agency announced that Starbucks is recalling 300,000 bottles of its Vanilla Frappuccinos in the US. Apparently, the glass in the bottles is also in the drink.

In MENA moves, AstraZeneca is setting up a fully sustainable office in Dubai's Science Park while the Uzbekistan government has signed 7 MoUs with Egyptian companies in sectors including healthcare and pharma. Also, Aster has partnered with Dr Reddy's to sell antihistamines and medications for gastroenterology, pain management, and cardiovascular diseases in the UAE and GCC markets.

In Romania, the recycling of medical implants has landed five doctors under investigation. Their only crime: they were reusing medical implants harvested from dead patients.

A fascinating look at all the rule-breaking and deal-making involved in getting more medical devices into more patients in the US.

Unlike Nigeria, Kenya has a plan to prevent brain drain in healthcare staffing. The plan is simple: prevent doctors from taking jobs abroad.

And finally, whales are known for their mating songs. However, in Australia (where else?), some whales have given up singing in favour of fighting. Naturally, being Australia, the fights are to death.