Civil society organizations, pharmaceutical industries, and other stakeholders support the ratification of the AMA Treaty. On the two-year anniversary of the establishment of the African Medicines Agency (AMA) Treaty, over 40 patient and civil society organizations, health and pharmaceutical industries, and product development partnerships called upon African Union member states to ratify the Treaty. Rapidly […] Continue reading ->
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) investigative team in Wuhan, China, visited the biosafety laboratory that has been at the centre of numerous conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic on Wednesday, making it the most controversial site for the team’s fieldwork so far. The team of 13 experts spent three-and-a-half hours at the Wuhan Institute of […] Continue reading ->
The US decision to join COVAX “is likely to mean resources” to be able to get vaccines for people, Dr Tony Fauci, US President Joe Biden’s Chief Medical Advisor, told the International AIDS Society’s COVID-19 conference this week. Fauci also told the conference that scientists were taking the SARS-COV2 variant identified in South Africa so […] Continue reading ->
IBADAN, NIGERIA — A new fixed-dose combination (FDC) tuberculosis (TB) treatment could improve the ease of treatment regimes, increase the availability of treatments, and get the world back on track to achieve the goal of ending TB. The short-course preventative treatment, consisting of two drugs – rifapentine and isoniazid – will reduce the pill burden […] Continue reading ->
Switzerland has become the first European country to reject an application by AstraZeneca for regulatory approval. Meanwhile, half a dozen other European countries have now said that data on the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine so far is insufficient to permit its use among people over the age of 65 – with Belgium being the latest. “The data […] Continue reading ->
The world’s first mix-and-match COVID-19 vaccine trial, sponsored by Oxford University, is currently recruiting volunteers to investigate the efficacy of alternating between Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines. Meanwhile, the British GlaxoSmithKline and CureVac, a German pharmaceutical company, announced their new €150 million agreement to jointly develop a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine, attempting to address multiple emerging variants in […] Continue reading ->
Some 50% of countries surveyed by WHO have had cancer services partially or completely disruptive because of the pandemic, according to new WHO data released just ahead of World Cancer Day on Thursday. There have also been significant reductions in cancer-related research and clinical trials, said Andre Ilbawi, speaking at a press briefing in Geneva […] Continue reading ->
The 2020 FIFA Club World Cup, which kicks off in Qatar on Thursday, will also launch a major COVID-19 media campaign focusing on fair global access to vaccines as well as preventive measures such as mask-wearing – thanks to a new partnership between the World Health Organization and football’s global body, FIFA, which was announced […] Continue reading ->
As the World Health Organization (WHO) led expert team on the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus began to conduct fieldwork at hospitals, research centers and markets in Wuhan, China, the WHO attempted to curb expectations, insisting that the mission will likely raise more questions. “The plans and the visits that they have, provide detailed information…The […] Continue reading ->
With ten of the world’s most infectious diseases not catered by drug firms, pharmaceutical giants remain unprepared to tackle future pandemics, a new report has said. The report, published on Tuesday, found that though current medicine and vaccine research and development is primarily geared towards the COVID-19 pandemic, there are next to no efforts to […] Continue reading ->