There is ‘no evidence’ that the SARS-CoV-2 virus can be transmitted in food or on food packaging, said the World Health Organization on Thursday. WHO’s Executive Director of Health Emergencies Mike Ryan made the comments in response to reports that a dozen frozen chicken wings imported into China’s southern city of Shenzhen tested positive for […] Continue reading ->
Vaping, or the use of electronic nicotine delivery devices that vaporize nicotine-infused liquid, is linked to a dramatically higher risk of getting infected by COVID-19 in teens and young adults, according to a new study by Stanford University researchers. The study, published in The Journal of Adolescent Health just ahead of International Youth Day on […] Continue reading ->
Russia’s speedy approval of a COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday has drawn widespread criticism from Health Ministers, researchers, and even a Russian pharma industry group. However, it has also spurred interest and offers to collaborate on testing the new vaccine in other countries, including from quarters as farflung as Israel and the Philippines. The Russian COVID-19 […] Continue reading ->
A World Health Organization spokesperson on Friday said that the Organization is not well-positioned to make specific recommendations about when, where, and how travelers should be tested or quarantined for COVID-19 as countries reopen aviation, deferring the policy question to national governments. “Some of it is really dependent on what your national authorities ask of […] Continue reading ->
In the unprecedented race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, the World Health Organization says that there are no “cutting corners” in testing the safety and efficacy of a new vaccine candidate. Vaccine development has moved at an unprecedented pace. In six months, some 26 candidates are already undergoing human testing, while 139 more are in […] Continue reading ->
European legislation on drugs for rare diseases is “far from perfect”, but it is not a ‘failure’ given the amount of private sector investment it has attracted in the past two decades, says Yann Le Cam, CEO of EURORDIS – Rare Diseases Europe, a non-profit alliance of some 930 rare disease patient organisations across 72 […] Continue reading ->
‘’Less than 1%” of infected individuals die from the coronavirus according to the World Health Organization, marking the first time the agency has reported an ‘infection fatality rate’ for the general population. The virus is easily spread and more deadly in older people, making it a threat. The remarks by WHO’s experts came just a […] Continue reading ->
Four months after South Africa implemented one of the strictest lockdowns in the world, it appears that neither lives nor livelihoods have been spared. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was widely praised for taking decisive action when he introduced one of the fastest and strictest lockdowns in the world in late March. Within three weeks […] Continue reading ->
Big pharma has reaped billions in profit off the back of European orphan drug regulations that are supposed to incentivize R&D for rare diseases, according to an analysis of 120 orphan medicines registered in the EU over the past two decades. Instead of incentivizing R&D for rare maladies, the EU’s orphan drug legislation has turned […] Continue reading ->
People who tested positive for COVID-19 had lower Vitamin D levels on average than people who tested negative, according to a massive peer-reviewed Israeli study published in the FEBS Journal. The study found that the average plasma Vitamin D level – or the level of vitamin D in the liquid part of the blood – […] Continue reading ->