Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine, a cutting edge mRNA technology produced jointly with the German firm BioNTech, was authorized for use on Wednesday by the United Kingdom – making it the vaccine the first to be rolled out for commercial public use as early as next week.  The vaccine was authorised Wednesday morning for emergency use by […] Continue reading ->
Two groundbreaking agreements with pharma companies that should greatly expand access to WHO-recommended HIV drugs for children and adults in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have been announced by the Geneva-based Unitaid and Medicines Patent Pool (MPP). The announcements, coinciding with World AIDS Day, celebrated on Tuesday 1 December, both involve cheaper versions or new […] Continue reading ->
Moderna on Monday announced that it would immediately request emergency authorization today for its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine candidate from both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (US FDA)  and the European Medicines Agency – as well as asking the World Health Organization for an emergency use listing.  The announcement came in a week that will […] Continue reading ->
Africa’s COVID-19 rollout is anticipated for Spring 2021, despite the continent’s low vaccine preparedness, multiple health leaders in Africa have said, as policy advisory groups flag the importance that other successful immunization campaigns will have on COVID recovery. At a press briefing on Thursday, Dr. John Nkengasong, Director of Africa CDC, said: “Africa may have […] Continue reading ->
Nairobi.  Africa’s limited cold-chain capacity will constrain the continent’s ability to take up the more cutting-edge Pfizer and Moderna vaccines that are likely to win approval first from regulatory authorities, said WHO’s African Regional Director Dr Matshidiso Moeti on Thursday. Those same constraints make the AstraZeneca (AZD1222) vaccine the most attractive option, despite its lower […] Continue reading ->
South Africa is campaigning for the World Trade Organization (WTO) to waiver intellectual property rights on all products related to COVID-19 for the duration of the pandemic. Mustaqeem De Gama, Counsellor at the South African Permanent Mission in Geneva, is leading the campaign. Kerry Cullinan and Elaine Fletcher spoke to him about the reasons why […] Continue reading ->
Thirteen African countries and an international network of research institutions have joined forces to launch a multi-country clinical trial of COVID-19 drug treatments in Africa for people who are mild to moderately ill. The new ANTICOV trial, led by the Geneva-based Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDi) aims to respond to the urgent need to […] Continue reading ->
The vaccine zero hour is approaching. As Norway’s Minister of International Development Dag Ulstein and South Africa’s Minister of Health Zweili Mkhize made yet another urgent plea Monday for some US$4.3 billion right now and another $US23.9 billion in 2021 to massively roll out new COVID19 vaccines, drugs and tests that are now coming on […] Continue reading ->
AstraZeneca, the pharma firm developing a COVID-19 vaccine in collaboration with researchers at Oxford University, announced that its Phase 3 clinical trials had resulted in a 90% efficacy rate for one dosing regime, in interim results released on Monday. The AstraZeneca breakthrough is significant because the vaccine, based on a known vaccine delivery technology, is […] Continue reading ->