A network of life sciences organisations working together to address antibacterial resistance worldwide has expanded to now include 10 top organisations from six countries, according to CARB-X (Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria), a US-based partnership investing hundreds of millions of dollars in R&D for antibacterial resistance over 5 years. Continue reading ->
Geneva-based Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, today announced the start of a major two-week campaign to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of people in Harare, Zimbabwe against typhoid, after an outbreak there. The campaign will be the first in Africa to use a new typhoid vaccine that can be administered to young children and is long-lasting. Nearly 2,000 cases of typhoid have been reported since a second wave of outbreak arose in September, Gavi said. Continue reading ->
Wellcome Trust, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the African Academy of Sciences have joined together in a new initiative to make clinical practice guidelines more efficient and adaptable for clinical trials that require less stringent approaches, such as those that take place during infectious disease outbreaks. Additionally, by applying a more flexible approach towards the application of these guidelines, the initiative also hopes to make them “future proof,” or able to better incorporate new technologies. Continue reading ->
An innovative five-year agreement between the Australian government and pharmaceutical companies, involving a lump sum payment of about US$ 766 million for an unlimited five-year supply of the most advanced Hepatitis C (HCV) drugs, has reduced the per-patient costs of these cutting-edge treatments by roughly 85%, according to a study today in the New England Journal of Medicine. Continue reading ->
NEW DELHI, India -- Since its creation in 2002, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has been an extraordinarily successful financing instrument in global health. It says it has saved 27 million lives as of the end of 2017 and reduced the number of deaths caused by AIDS, TB and malaria each year by one-third since 2002 in the countries where it invests. Now the Global Fund director has some ideas to increase funding to carry on the fight. Continue reading ->
Switzerland, considered to be one of the richest countries in the world and home to significant medical research and development, has begun feeling the pressure of high drug prices for its citizens. This has led it to begin talking with other countries exploring joint procurement initiatives aimed at lowering prices, the Swiss global health ambassador told Health Policy Watch in a recent interview. Continue reading ->