Pfizer Friday announced that its experimental COVID-19 oral antiviral drug PAXLOVID™ reduced risks of hospitalization and death by 89% among patients who received the drug within the first three days of their illness. The company said it had stopped its Phase 2/3 trial on the drug owing to the success rate seen in an interim […] Continue reading ->
A potentially game-changing antiviral treatment for COVID-19 that can be administered orally early on, and potentially head off much more serious cases, is set to be licensed for generic production in most low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), in an unprecedented breakthrough in access to a new COVID treatment. The historic deal, reached between the pharma […] Continue reading ->
New research published at the opening of the 52nd Union World Conference on Lung Health has demonstrated that routine breathing can transmit tuberculosis even more effectively than coughing – in a finding that also echoes one of the signature lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic about SARS-CoV2 transmission. While large droplets jammed with bacteria produced by […] Continue reading ->
Africans are a step closer to speedier access to newer, safer medicines following this week’s notification by 15 African Union (AU) member countries that they have formally ratified and deposited their accord to create a new African Medicines Agency (AMA). Although the AU adopted the treaty to set up the AMA back in February 2019, […] Continue reading ->
CAPE TOWN – A drug discovery and development centre based at the University of Cape Town (UCT) has joined forces with the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) to strengthen health innovation in Africa. The three-year partnership announced this week will focus on driving capacity-strengthening for drug discovery and development in Africa by […] Continue reading ->
As Africa waits for COVID-19 vaccines promised by the US and other countries to arrive, the continent’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC) plans to scale up antigen testing to identify and address pandemic hotspots. “We are only at 4% vaccination rate, which means we have to continue to advance basic public health tools at our […] Continue reading ->
COVID cases across most countries of South America are now declining, after months in which the region was the epicenter of the pandemic. But in the seesawing trends that the pandemic continues to see, infections are rising again throughout central and North America – as well as the Caribbean – where earthquake torn Haiti faces […] Continue reading ->
World Trade Organization Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has ” high hopes” that the WTO Ministerial Conference (MC12) that convenes at the end of November can deliver decisions that curb harmful fisheries subsidies as well as improving access of low- and middle-income countries to COVID medicines and vaccines. But WTO members must overcome a series of […] Continue reading ->
Government action against the threat of “superbugs” in most of the world’s leading economies gets a score of less than 50%, according to a new AMR Preparedness Index, released today by a global coalition committed to fighting current trends. Great Britain, the United States, Germany and France rated highest on a score of 1-100 in […] Continue reading ->
Proposals to incorporate some 40 new medications in WHO’s Essential Medicines List – from complex cancer treatments to new medicines for hepatitis C and rabies – will be examined over the coming two weeks by the EML Expert Committee. The Committee, which kicked off its deliberations on Monday with a public hearing, also will consider […] Continue reading ->