Regional production of vaccines and other pandemic-related products – and sharing the technical know-how to enable this – features strongly in the much-anticipated first draft of the global pandemic treaty proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to guide future pandemics. WHO member states will be briefed on the conceptual “zero-sum” draft on Friday in […] Continue reading ->
Biotherapeutic products represent a new therapeutic revolution in disease treatment and are by far the fastest-growing segment of the pharmaceutical industry – yet the recent biosimilar guidelines issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) are myopic, inconsistent or vague about some well-established scientific issues Biosimilar products include recombinant proteins and hormones, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), cytokines, […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged governments worldwide to step up the supervision of vaccine manufacture and distribution, especially when public funding is used in vaccine R&D or manufacture, so as to prioritise essential vaccines and ensure they are distributed equitably.  The global health agency’s call to governments came as it released its annual […] Continue reading ->
The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers’ Network (DCVMN) have thrown their weight behind the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) proposal to improve access to vaccines in future pandemics. The proposal, known as the Berlin Declaration, outlines how the pharmaceutical industry would reserve an allocation of real-time production of […] Continue reading ->
Midway through last year, the head of the Africa Vaccine Acquisition Task Team, Strive Masiyiwa, angrily accused the global COVID-19 vaccine acquisition platform, COVAX, of misleading African countries about its ability to procure vaccines for them. Masiyiwa’s bitter remarks came after months of Africans watching Europeans and North Americans being vaccinated against COVID-19 while no […] Continue reading ->
Despite numerous announcements and plans to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Africa, the basic requirements for testing for drug-resistant pathogens are unmet in most areas, according to a new study of 14 countries. Only 1.3% of the 50,000 medical laboratories in the participating countries are conducting routine bacteriological testing to definitively identify the type of […] Continue reading ->
The submission period for the second round of public hearings to inform the development of a new international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response is now open and will The World Health Organization (WHO) is inviting interested parties to submit a video statement in response to the question: Based on your experience with the […] Continue reading ->