As global stocks of remdesivir, one of the few promising therapeutics for COVID-19, run low, the drug’s maker Gilead Sciences says that voluntary licensing to enable more manufacturers to produce the drug will not help expand access, countering advocates’ calls. Rather, the lack of a “coordinated global supply chain” is to blame for worldwide shortages […] Continue reading ->
The US Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Agency (BARDA) is investigating Moderna’s patents for allegedly failing to disclose federal funding, making it the second US agency to review the company’s patents. The BARDA probe comes just days after the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) began an investigation into Moderna’s patents, after pharma watchdog […] Continue reading ->
A White House spokesperson on Tuesday said that the United States would not be joining the COVAX Facility, an initiative led by the World Health Organization and its partners to pool global demand for a COVID-19 vaccine, and ensure its equitable distribution. “The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we […] Continue reading ->
Tal Zaks, chief medical officer at Moderna Therapeutics since 2015, which has become one of the front-runners in the race to develop a vaccine for COVID-19, is in fact an oncologist, not a virologist by training. And so it’s perhaps no accident that the innovative “messenger RNA” (mRNA) technology upon which the company’s vaccine candidate […] Continue reading ->
Dr Vinh-Kim Nguyen is accustomed to straddling two worlds – academia and front-line medical work. But those dual roles took on new meaning this year as Nguyen, new co-director of the Global Health Centre of the Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID), travelled to Montreal during the first Covid-19 wave to treat patients and organize urgent services […] Continue reading ->
The United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is investigating Moderna, a company developing a much hyped COVID-19 vaccine candidate, for allegedly failing to disclose federal funding on its US patent applications. A Moderna spokesperson on Monday told Health Policy Watch that “the Company believes it has complied with applicable patent reporting requirements regarding patent filings.” […] Continue reading ->
Healthcare systems were not ready for COVID-19, which has been declared as ‘the defining global health crisis of our time’. The extended practice of self-care among individuals has helped to ease the strain on healthcare systems and improve the delivery of treatment in communities, providing vulnerable patients with the care they need. Personalized health and […] Continue reading ->
The European Commission has announced that it will join the new WHO-sponsored COVID-19 vaccine facility (COVAX) with a € 400 million commitment – inching the visionary global fund much closer to reality. If the new COVAX facility becomes a reality, it would set a historic precedent of multilateral cooperation, not only on the pandemic, but […] Continue reading ->
Billions of people around the world have suffered from new or increased mental health stress as a result of COVID-19, which makes it time to redouble investments in one of the most neglected areas of public health. This was the main message of a joint call by the World Health Organization, together with a number […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization will establish a new high level review of the Organization’s capacity to respond todisease outbreaks in the framework of the International Health Regulations (IHR) that govern emergency response. The aim is to ensure that WHO is “as effective as possible in operations as they unfold,” announced Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus […] Continue reading ->