💊 The end of Malawi’s cholera outbreak; COFEPRIS’s boost to Mexican biopharma production; Mosquito-borne disease surveillance for the Americas

#408 | Veggies for your lungs; A shot up your nose; mRNA vaccines for melanoma

Hello there. Welcome back to The Kable. We’re starting today on a good good note, with news of Malawi’s Ministry of Health declaring that cholera is no longer a national public health emergency. We say this often, but this story deserves a big YAY!

In Botswana, the Medicines Regulatory Authority and the Special Economic Zones Authority have signed a service level agreement to create a favourable investment ecosystem for the pharmaceutical sector, including a separate pharma SEZ.

Kenya, Cape Verde, and the Democratic Republic of Congo are the latest countries to ratify the African Medicines Agency (AMA) Treaty. Most major East African countries are now on board with the Treaty. This brings the total number of full ratifications to 26, marking a step closer to continental regulatory harmonisation.

Meanwhile, India and Suriname have signed on MoU to increase cooperation in the field of medicines regulation. The MoU hopes to promote the recognition of the Indian Pharmacopoeia in Suriname to streamline regulation and ensure drug quality.

A recent study by Future Market Insights projects that the Middle East veterinary vaccines marketwill grow to over $533.4 million by 2031, reflecting a CAGR of around 4.8% from 2022.

Uzbek state prosecutors are pinning the distribution of deadly Indian cough syrups on bribery. They claim that distributors paid local officials $33,000 to skip mandatory testing.

Bedaquiline was the first new drug effective against TB developed in over 40 years. But as more countries are set to get access to the drug with J&J’s primary patent on it expiring, we have a new challenge to deal with: bacterial resistance to the drug. Scroll.in covers the situation in India.

In China’s Inner Mongolia, a total of three cases of bubonic plague have been reported so far this month.

In Mexico, in a bid to enhance health self-sufficiency, the Federal Commission for the Protection against Health Risks (COFEPRIS) has met with local biopharma manufacturers and academics. The objective is to increase national biological and biosimilar therapy production.

Earlier this week, PAHO led a meeting of the Arbovirus Diagnosis Laboratory Network of the Americas to discuss increasing the use of genomic and entomovirological surveillance to monitor mosquito-borne diseases. A critical move as some countries in the region witness widespread circulation of dengue, chikungunya and other diseases.

In a lone update from Europe, German generic drug company Stada is seeking an $11 billion sale, but it’s still early days.

And finally, US CDC data reveals that in 2022, the country saw a record number of deaths by suicide.