Researchers worldwide are searching for ways to reduce dependence on antibiotics to preserve these life-saving medicines in the face of the rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Drug resistance is currently implicated in 700,000 deaths each year, and the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the red flag last month over the lack of new antibacterial treatments being […] Continue reading ->
Vaccine manufacturers are in a race to develop or tweak COVID-19 vaccines to address the Omicron variants that are sweeping through the globe – and get them ready for use as boosters when the weather cools in the northern hemisphere. More infectious Omicron strains BA.4 and BA.5 have become dominant in many parts of the […] Continue reading ->
Two leading researchers who have raised questions about the reliability of Sputnik V’s vaccine efficacy ratings across age groups shared their concerns with Health Policy Watch. One called the results “impossible” and “very concerning”. More than 70 countries have approved the use of Sputnik V, Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine, based on the reported 91.6% efficacy across […] Continue reading ->
Citizens and NGOs welcomed the United Nations Human Rights Council’s adoption of a much-debated draft resolution that calls on nations to ensure everyone has access to medicines and vaccines. The resolution was adopted by consensus Friday shortly before the close of the HRC’s 50th session, sending what proponents called a “clear message” that access to […] Continue reading ->
Some 1.1 billion COVID-19 vaccines are likely to have been wasted since the global rollout began, according to new findings by Airfinity, a global health surveillance firm. Airfinity’s analysis, released Monday, assumed a 10% wastage rate from June 2021 when global dose sharing began. This rate is taken from confirmed wastage in the United States […] Continue reading ->
The African Development Bank is establishing a foundation with the aim of spending at least $3 billion over the next decade to boost Africa’s access to technologies needed to make medicines, vaccines, and other pharmaceutical products. The bank’s board approved the establishment of the African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation with an eye to towards creating what […] Continue reading ->
French drugmaker Sanofi is the latest pharmaceuticals manufacturer to offer a package of essential medicines at cost to health systems in the world’s most impoverished countries – including much-needed cancer and diabetes treatments. Sanofi on Monday announced the launch of the new nonprofit Impact® brand for dozens of medicines, that is supposed to ease support […] Continue reading ->
The wider use of pooled procurement in national health systems can help low- and middle-income countries get a better deal on pharmaceuticals – here’s how and why. Low- and middle-income countries are making strides in bolstering their domestic pharmaceutical sectors—evidenced by the recent deal between South Africa’s Afrigen Biologics and Belgium’s Univercells, to develop the […] Continue reading ->
The European Medicines Agency is considering the extension of the use of the smallpox vaccine Imvanex to include people at risk of Monkeypox disease, the agency said on Tuesday. Imvanex is a modified form of the vaccinia virus, which is related to smallpox and currently authorised in the European Union (EU) for the prevention of […] Continue reading ->
Pfizer and BioNTech have announced positive safety, tolerability and immunogenicity data for two Omicron-adapted COVID-19 mRNA candidate vaccines – but for an earlier strain of Omicron than those that are currently globally dominant. The two Omicron-adapted vaccine candidates were given to 1,234 participants aged 56 years and older as boosters, and “elicited substantially higher neutralizing […] Continue reading ->