💊 Sanofi, AZ on track to get RSV therapy approval; Fosun Pharma to make drugs in West Africa; WHO’s integrated climate-health research agenda
#357 | Covid vaxx makers in court again; UNICEF breaks records; Using your internal clock to fight malaria
Hello and welcome back to The Kable for a characteristically hectic Wednesday. US FDA staff reviewers have claimed that Nirsevimab - Sanofi and AstraZeneca’s experimental RSV therapy to prevent infections in infants - appears safe and effective. Nirsevimab has already been approved by the European Commission, and approval in the US would give the companies access to a huge market, with peak sales for the therapy estimated to touch $2 billion.
Japan’s Eisai is the latest pharma company to be hit with a ransomware attack. The company is investigating the possibility of data leaks and has taken some of its computer systems offline, though corporate websites and email systems remain operational.
Following a priority review from the FDA, Merck has gained approval for a new indication for Prevymis for the prevention of cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease in high-risk adult patients receiving kidney transplants. This is the first therapy to enter the CMV space in 15 years.
In India, doctors in government hospitals have been instructed to write prescriptions using generic names of drugs. This measure has been introduced to make medicines cheaper and more accessible, but critics of the move point out the drawbacks.
Japan-headquartered medtech firm Olympus is looking to establish a bunch of Digital Excellence Centres around the world, to develop digital solutions in London, Hamburg, Boston, Tokyo and possibly also Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv.
South Korea-based Lunit – a provider of AI-powered cancer diagnostic solutions – has signed a supply and license agreement with Sweden’s Capio S:t Göran Hospital to provide the latter with an AI solution to mammography analysis and address the country’s radiologist shortage.
Researchers from the Antimicrobial Resistance Interdisciplinary Research Group at the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology have collaborated with other researchers in the country to discover a novel therapy for Mycobacterium abscessus, which causes chronic lung-related infections. They combined the antibiotics Rifaximin and Clarithromycin, both of which are US FDA-approved.
BSI, a UK standards body, has developed a new global Minimized Risk of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) certification to promote responsible antibiotic manufacturing in the pharma supply chain all over the world. This comes subsequent to the Antibiotic Manufacturing Standard published in June last year.
What we learned from Covid, we can also apply to cancer. We’re talking about deploying mRNA vaccines. Scientific American carries a piece about how mRNA tech might fight cancer and when such developments might reach patients.
A couple of updates from CEPI today. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations is providing up to $1.6 million to the biotech company aVaxziPen to advance the development of a novel needle-free vaccine delivery platform which could help end the need for frozen storage of vaccines and improve equitable access in resource-poor countries. CEPI is also providing up to $1.9 million to Leipzig University to expand the application of AI in the development of vaccines, especially to fight diseases with the potential to become full-blown pandemics.
China’s Fosun Pharma is partnering with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to build a pharma production facility and distribution hub in Côte d'Ivoire. With two IFC loans totalling €50 million to support the production of anti-malaria and anti-bacterial drugs, the partners hope to improve access to affordable and high-quality life-saving drugs in West Africa.
After the deaths of children in Gambia were linked to India-made cough syrups, India’s pharmaceutical exports to the African market dipped 5% in FY ’23.
As part of its ongoing collab with Eli Lilly, EVA Pharma has completed its new biologics facility in Cairo, expanding sustainable access to high-quality insulin in the region.
In Ghana, a regional public health committee has banned the slaughter, sale and consumption of cattle, sheep, goats and dogs for a month following suspected anthrax cases which have led to the death of one person.
In Nigeria, the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IVHN) has officially commissioned its new campus, which will serve as its headquarters and house a genomics resource centre, clinical and diagnostic laboratories, and a clinical trials unit.
The UK is playing good cop and bad cop in the health worker crisis in Nigeria. The country has been recruiting nurses from Nigeria, where they are already in short supply, but it is also committing £2 million to strengthen Nigeria’s health workforce. Over a two-year period, the grant will support the African country in optimizing the quality and impact of the health workforce, working to achieve its mission of universal health coverage.
In Uganda, more than 2000 pre-medical interns are waiting to be deployed in hospitals, a process which has been delayed as the Ministry of Health struggles with financial constraints.
And finally, the World Organisation for Animal Health explains how the spread patterns of avian influenza have shifted to include domestic birds, wild birds and mammals.
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