💉 Sanofi and AI-driven drug discovery; Bird flu takes up news space; Oxford says PRESTO
#518 | The Africa CDC unites public health institutes; The WHO updates a bacterial threat list; A new vaccine for HIV?
Hello, and welcome back to The Kable one last time this week. We have a really packed issue for you with lots of bird flu-related updates. But more on that later.
First, let's talk about the pandemic treaty which observers caution may not be in place before the World Health Assembly even as the WHO chief writes about the urgent and imperative need for the treaty.
In good news on the multilateral agency front, negotiations on amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR) have made significant progress, says the WHO. The agreed package of amendments will (hopefully) enhance countries' preparedness for Public Health Emergencies of International Concern (PHEICs), with the final proposal set to be presented at the World Health Assembly next week.
Speaking of PHEICs, you thought Covid was over, didn't you? But you thought wrong. Because Covid is actually enjoying a resurgence right now. The new FLiRT variants have now been reported in 14 countries, with Spain saying hospitalisations jumped 400% last fortnight while Singapore has brought back masking mandates while making vaccinations en vogue again. Doctors in the UK report that these FLiRT variants, true to their name, both spread more easily and evade immunity. On the bright side though, a new comprehensive study says masks work. Heck yes, they do!
In exciting news out of Africa, the Africa CDC, in partnership with PEPFAR and the US CDC, launched the African Public Health Institutes Collaborative (APHIC) to enhance leadership, strengthen health systems, and advance public health functions across Africa, particularly in HIV response. The initiative will strengthen National Public Health Institutes through peer-to-peer learning, collaboration, and capacity building to achieve the goal of ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
India's Serum Institute reports that it has started shipments of the Oxford-developed R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine to Africa. The initial shipment is headed for the Central African Republic, with the next deliveries scheduled for South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Abu Dhabi's Department of Health continues its recent spree of big-ticket partnerships, this time linking up with Roche in a public-private partnership to study spinal muscular atrophy and Duchenne muscular dystrophy in the Middle East.
Also continuing is India's story of drug recalls in the US with Dr Reddy's, Sun Pharma and Aurobindo being the latest to do so. India's spice mixes saga also keeps on keeping on with news that New Zealand has now launched an investigation into them.
Lots of announcements from AstraZeneca this week. Importantly, the company is pumping in $1.5 billion to set up an ADC plant in Singapore. And it hopes to achieve $80 billion in revenue by 2030.
The clash over mRNA patents also hogged a bit of the limelight this week with Moderna scoring a win in Europe over Pfizer+BioNTech and Emcure-Gennova settling a dispute with HDT Bio.
And finally, a new study says that regardless of pandemics, climate change and rising AMR, global life expectancy is expected to go up five years by 2050. Right in sync with another report that says STIs are on the rise.
Stories Of The Week
Planet of the bacteria. The WHO has updated its list of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, highlighting the most dangerous ones as "critical," "high," and "medium" threats. The 2024 Bacterial Priority Pathogens List now includes a new critical entry: third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacterales. This list aims to guide the development of new treatments to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR), which occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites no longer respond to medicines, mainly due to misuse and overuse of antimicrobials.
(WHO)
The climate, it's changing. Elsewhere, health experts are increasingly worried about climate change's role in rising vector-borne diseases in Africa, particularly in LMICs already struggling with health and socioeconomic disparities. During a webinar organized by HERAF, AMREF, and AFIDEP, experts emphasised that climate change has become a significant public health crisis, causing diseases to emerge in previously unaffected areas, such as malaria returning to Kenya's highlands. The WHO estimates that climate change could result in an additional 250,000 deaths annually between 2030 and 2050, primarily due to undernutrition, malaria, diarrhoea, and heat stress. The discussion highlighted the need for urgent, collaborative action across sectors to address these escalating threats, emphasizing the importance of capacity building, community engagement, and comprehensive planning to mitigate the health impacts of climate change.
(Mongabay)
Make (everything) in Africa. This week, the Health Justice Initiative (HJI) revealed that Moderna attempted to charge South Africa exorbitant prices for its Covid vaccine during the pandemic, initially asking for $42 per dose, later reducing the price to $28.50, while Pfizer charged $10 per dose. Both companies demanded restrictive terms, including broad indemnification clauses and lengthy confidentiality agreements, with Moderna also requiring South Africa to cover transportation costs. This is just one more reason why we need an equitable pandemic pact NOW!
(HJI)
Hogging the limelight. We really hadn't begun the week thinking about including anything bird flu-related in this section. But the sheer amount of reporting on the topic means we just can't help but include it here. So what's new? South Africa says bird flu is a clear and present danger, especially in light of the fact that vaccines aren't really in the conversational mix yet. A bird flu outbreak has been reported among wild fowl in two counties in western China and also among wild avian life in New York. In obviously unrelated news, the US CDC has asked states to keep testing for flu on priority. Science reports that regardless of all challenges, a handful of companies are working on bird flu vaccines for cows. Which might just be the right thing to do considering bird flu has now been reported in 58 dairy herds across 9 US states. And yet another (human) farm worker in the US has tested positive for bird flu. And cats too are catching it. And in what is but a natural progression, bird flu has also made its way right across the world to Australia. In birds and in humans. Nearly half a million birds have been culled in Australia already. No humans were reported to be culled. The one human infection, however, was reported to have contracted the infection in India and brought it back to Australia way back in March. Experts say New Zealand should be prepared for a bird flu outbreak too. For South Korea, the time for getting prepared may have passed though.
Agency Observer
Presto chango. With $2.4 million in fresh funding from CEPI, the University of Oxford is launching the PREpare using Simulated Trial Optimisation (PRESTO) project to enhance global responses to potential pandemic viruses like Nipah, Ebola, and Coronaviruses. By simulating real-life outbreak scenarios, researchers aim to develop optimal vaccine trial designs to accelerate testing and improve response times during epidemics. These models will help public health officials make informed decisions quickly, ensuring efficient and effective vaccine trials. The initiative supports CEPI’s 100 Days Mission to develop vaccines rapidly and will provide open-source tools for ongoing updates and external collaboration.
(CEPI)
Word of the week: biopiracy. In a landmark agreement, over 190 nations have approved the first WIPO Treaty, which aims to combat biopiracy and regulate patents related to genetic resources like medicinal plants, particularly those tied to traditional knowledge. This new treaty, announced by the UN's World Intellectual Property Organization, requires patent applicants to disclose the origins of the genetic resources used in their inventions and acknowledge the indigenous communities that provided the associated traditional knowledge. After extensive negotiations, this treaty marks a significant step in protecting both intellectual property and the contributions of indigenous peoples.
(WIPO)
Breakthroughs
Seeing the back of HIV. Since its identification in 1983, HIV has infected over 85 million people and caused around 40 million deaths worldwide. While daily pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) can significantly reduce the risk of HIV infection, developing a lasting vaccine has been challenging due to the virus's rapid mutation. However, researchers at Duke University have made a breakthrough with an experimental vaccine that triggered the production of broadly neutralising antibodies in a small clinical trial. This progress, though preliminary, offers hope for creating a vaccine that can effectively combat various HIV strains by guiding the immune response to target stable regions of the virus.
(Cell)
Corporate
Wheeling and dealing. It has been quite the week in Big Pharma land with acquisitions and licensing deals flying here, there and everywhere. Sanofi dug deeper into AI-driven drug development in a new pact with Formation Bio and Open AI. Eli Lilly dug deeper into radiopharmawith a $1.1 billion collaboration with Aktis Oncology. Biogen spent $1 billion in acquiring Human Immunology Biosciences, bringing home a late-stage drug candidate with potential applications in multiple immune-mediated disorders. Germany's Merck KGaA, through its US life sciences unit, MilliporeSigma, is buying Mirus Bio for $600 million to build expertise in a critical part of viral vector-based gene therapy production. And finally, Takeda has signed an exclusive license agreement with Degron Therapeutics to discover and develop molecular glue degraders for oncology, neuroscience, and inflammation, with Degron receiving up to $1.2 billion in payments and retaining full ownership of its pipeline programs.
(Sanofi, Aktis, Biogen, Merck, Degron)
Bottom line
A smoking gun. The economic damage from climate change is way worse than we thought, hitting us six times harder, according to a new paper. Turns out, just a 1°C rise in temperature slashes global GDP by 12%, which is a lot more than previous estimates. With the planet already warmed by over 1°C and heading towards a scorching 3°C by the century's end, the researchers warn of a grim future where economic output, capital, and consumption could plummet by over 50%.
(NBER)
Welcome to the bionic future, except with plastic. In a study that sounds more like science fiction than reality, researchers found that harmful microplastics are present in human testicles, as well as in dog testicles, according to a publication in Toxicological Sciences. Using a method called pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS), they discovered that all 23 human and 47 canine testicles examined contained measurable amounts of microplastics, with humans averaging almost three times higher concentrations than dogs. The findings, which identified 12 types of microplastics including polyethylene, raise concerns about their potential role in declining sperm counts and other health issues.
(Toxicological Sciences)
Long reads
Malaria, still here. Malaria remains a major public health challenge in the African region, with over 90% of global cases & deaths. A new factsheet by the WHO has insights that are well worth your time.
(WHO)
The Lancet comes calling. And more long-ish reads from The Lancet. 6 new GBD studies. And a whole series on AMR.
(The Lancet, The Lancet)
Oh, and Gopal Nair doesn't want you to see this.