Three years after the launch of its COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) initiative, the World Health Organization (WHO) has secured its first COVID-19 vaccine license from a private pharmaceutical company, the UN health body announced on Tuesday. The agreement with Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp., a private vaccine manufacturer based in Taiwan, is a welcome but underwhelming […] Continue reading ->
With the fate and nature of the pandemic accord currently being negotiated by World Health Organization (WHO) member states still uncertain, global health experts are calling for “realistic” backup plans to protect the world against the next pandemic. “We need an ambitious but implementable pandemic accord – that is the Holy Grail,” Javier Guzman, Director […] Continue reading ->
Since the beginning of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the popular assumption was that people displaying severe symptons were also the most contagious. But new data from a controversial Imperial College London study published on Tuesday found the two participants that were the biggest “superspreaders” of the virus both displayed only minor symptoms.  “How symptomatic a person […] Continue reading ->
The Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) announced sublicensing agreements with seven manufacturers to produce and distribute generic versions of Japanese pharmaceutical company Shinogi’s COVID-19 antiviral treatment in 117 low- and middle-income countries.  Ensitrelvir is an oral antiviral currently only approved in Japan under the country’s emergency regulatory approval system. The drug is being evaluated under a […] Continue reading ->
CEOs from the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies issued a call to G7 leaders on Friday to oppose the inclusion of intellectual property rights waivers and pathogen benefit sharing in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) pandemic treaty.  In meetings with Japanese Prime Minister and chair of next month’s G7 summit Fumio Kishida this week, a delegation […] Continue reading ->
Raccoon dogs, lab leaks and Chinese secrecy have made for high drama as scientists who think they may have found the elusive “Animal X” that passed SARS-CoV2 were excluded from a data-sharing platform for “scooping” Chinese scientists. Nineteen scientists, including world-renowned figures such as Dr Michael Worobey and Dr Angela Rasmussen – have published a […] Continue reading ->
New evidence indicating that raccoon dogs from the Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan may have been infected with SARS CoV2 in January 2020 was published on a shared database by China’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in January  – but removed recently after scientists started asking questions. This was revealed at a media briefing […] Continue reading ->
Fifty influential scientists have developed a coronavirus vaccines research and development (R&D) roadmap aimed at developing broadly protective vaccines to combat fast-evolving coronaviruses threatening humans. “The COVID-19 pandemic marks the third time in just 20 years that a coronavirus has emerged to cause a public health crisis,” said Professor Michael Osterholm, director of the University […] Continue reading ->