💊 Roche goes shopping at Roivant; Johns Hopkins makes people sick for science; Duke University fights all coronaviruses with one shot

#455 | J&J's pill to fight dengue fever; A wound-healing gel for diabetes patients; A treatment for paediatric kidney failure

Hello, and welcome back to a brand new week with The Kable. Merck Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Germany’s Merck KGaA, has made a fresh commitment to improve healthcare services in African countries, especially those with a shortage of specialists. The Foundation will focus on the continent’s health workforce as well as logistics.

This article in Science Translational Medicine highlights the search for potential medicines for zoonotic and related diseases by African scientists between 2018 and 2023. It discusses target-driven, phenotypic, and repurposing approaches and the value of African traditional medicine. It also highlights challenges and opportunities related to drug discovery in Africa.

IAS Pharma 2023 is calling for applications for its latest innovation challenge. It is seeking solutions to healthcare, biotech, IT/digital health, and manufacturing/supply chain and logistics challenges in Africa.

In Zimbabwe, cholera has infected 5,000 people and killed 100 since February this year. The country is struggling to contain the outbreak, with cases spanning all of its 10 provinces. The cholera problem isn’t new in the country but has been exacerbated by the deterioration of safe boreholes and poor sanitation infrastructure. People fear a repeat of the 2008 outbreak which had resulted in the declaration of a national emergency.

A study recently published in The Lancet Microbe has mapped the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in Ghana. Researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Oslo University Hospitals, the University for Development Studies, Ghana, and other collaborators have found that the highly resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteria are not successful at spreading outside of hospital settings. This means that control measures should be focused on clinical settings.

There are currently no vaccines or antivirals for the lethal Marburg virus disease, but the Sabin Vaccine Institute has launched a phase 2 clinical trial for its Marburg virus vaccine candidate in Uganda!

As part of EU-Nigeria cooperation efforts, the EU has announced a ₦728 billion (~€900 million) package to drive progress in healthcare, education, energy and transport in Nigeria. This includes a €14.85 million financing deal between Nigeria’s Emzor Pharmaceutical Industries and the European Investment Bank to boost local API production.

India-headquartered pharma company Sigachi Industries has formed a joint venture with Saudi National Projects Investment to expand its presence in the Middle East.

In Bangladesh, the latest count says that 2,056 dengue patients have been hospitalised and 9 have died in 24 hours. About 85% of dengue deaths last week were within three days of hospitalisation.

In India, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation has flagged 62 drug samples as substandard. Large companies like Mankind Pharma and Bharat Biotech have also come under the scanner under this latest drug alert list.

Meanwhile, the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has inked an MoU with the Saudi FDA to enhance cooperation in food and medical products, marking the Korean agency’s first MoU with a country in the Middle East.

East Ventures, a venture capital firm in Indonesia and Southeast Asia, has announced its first healthcare-focused fund of $30 million to support innovative healthcare solutions in Indonesia.

The CBC Healthcare Infrastructure Platform, an independent life science real assets investor in China, has secured a total of $875 million for its first life science real assets venture called CLSRA Venture I.

The London-based Environmental Investigation Agency claims that three publicly-traded Chinese pharma companies (Beijing Tong Ren Tang Group, Tianjin Pharmaceutical Group, and Jilin Aodong Pharmaceutical Group) have used parts of endangered animals as ingredients in their traditional Chinese medicine products. The group is urging global investors (like UBS, Deutsche Bank, HSBC Holdings, Citigroup, and BlackRock) in the three firms to divest their stakes. These 3 companies are part of a much longer list of 72 firms.

South Korea last week reported the country’s first outbreak of lumpy skin disease, a highly infectious insect-borne viral disease affecting cattle and buffalo.

Türkiye has become the 14th country to achieve maturity level 3 (ML 3) in WHO’s classification of regulatory authorities for drugs and vaccines. ML 3 confirms that a “stable, well-functioning and integrated regulatory system” is in place.

Nectar Lifesciences, an Indian API manufacturer, received an untitled letter from the US FDA last month. The letter suggests repeat GMP violations at its site in Himachal Pradesh, India.

In big news for Pfizer, the US FDA has approved Penbraya, the first and only vaccine against five common serogroups (A, B, C, W and Y) causing meningococcal disease in adolescents and young adults. This vaccine could simplify complex vaccination schedules against the disease.

In the latest ADC deal, GSK is licensing HS-20089 (which has best-in-class potential in ovarian and endometrial cancer) from China’s Hansoh Pharma for $85 million upfront. GSK will receive global rights to the ADC globally, except for in China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Additional payments of up to $1.48 billion are also expected as part of milestone payments and royalties.

And finally, GlobalData suggests that within the solid tumour indication, biologics are poised to surpass innovative small molecules in terms of sales revenue by 2027. GlobalData forecasts that sales will reach $120 billion by then.