Kwaku Ohene-Frempong →
Pediatric hematologist-oncologist and authority on sickle cell disease. Born on March 13, 1946 in Kukurantumi, Ghana, he died of metastatic lung cancer on May 7, 2022 in Philadelphia. Read more.
Morton Mower →
Cardiologist and co-inventor of the automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator. Born on Jan. 31, 1933 in Baltimore, MD, he died of cancer on April 25, 2022 in Denver, CO. Read more.
Aaron Beck →
Psychiatrist who pioneered cognitive therapy. Born on July 18, 1921 in Providence, RI, he died on Nov. 1, 2021 in Philadelphia, PA. Read more.
Long-lasting HIV prevention drug too slow to reach Africa, activists say →
Melb Simiyu, an HIV prevention officer at a support organization for sex workers here, says most of her clients have asked when a drug called CAB-LA will become available. Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December 2021, the HIV prevention drug could drastically reduce infections among marginalized groups like the one she works with.
But even though a trial in Uganda and six other sub-Saharan African countries provided data key for FDA’s approval, Africa, still the part of the world hardest hit by HIV, may face a long wait to get the drug at an affordable price.
On 27 May, CAB-LA’s developer, Viiv Healthcare, made a formal commitment to issue a voluntary license for the drug, an injectable form of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), to the Geneva-based Medicines Patent Pool (MPP). If the two reach an agreement, MPP could broker deals with generic manufacturers to produce cheap versions of CAB-LA for low- and middle-income countries. But it may take years before those generics become available, and activists accuse Viiv of dragging its feet, which the company denies. Zambian HIV activist Kenly Sikwese, who coordinates the African Community Advisory Board, says equitable access in sub-Saharan Africa should have been guaranteed before people from the region were recruited for clinical trials. “Viiv’s got to be serious about making the product accessible to everyone who needs it,” Sikwese says.
WTO finally agrees on a TRIPS deal. But not everyone is happy →
After its four-day ministerial conference spilled over into a sixth day, the World Trade Organization finally arrived at an agreement on the controversial TRIPS waiver. After heavily contested negotiations, member states agreed on a deal that temporarily removes intellectual property barriers around patents for COVID-19 vaccines, and postpone the discussions on extending the waiver to treatments and tests by six months. Read more.
A day late and a dollar short on monkeypox →
Ahead of the global eruption of monkeypox cases, outbreaks of the disease were already increasing in West and Central Africa, where it has sporadically appeared for decades. For researchers in the region, it’s a familiar cycle, like the West African Ebola outbreak that began in 2013, when attention and resources to an existing pathogen only increase after the disease threatens the global north. Read more.
Can the WTO finally deliver a TRIPS deal? →
After more than 20 months of debate, the World Trade Organization is only days away from a self-imposed deadline to reach consensus on an agreement to waive at least some intellectual property protections in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The real question is whether such a deal even exists. Read more.
Three reasons for unprecedented global hunger →
Global hunger is at unprecedented levels, with an estimated 276 million people facing severe food shortages — and at least three countries at risk of famine. With food prices soaring, supply chains disrupted and the conflict in Ukraine blocking access to vital reserves, experts fear the crisis could deepen. How did we get here and what can be done about it? Read more.
Jose Eduardo Lima Pinto da Costa →
Champion of legal medicine in Portugal. He was born on April 3, 1934 in Porto, Portugal, and died there of cancer on Dec. 8, 2021. Read more.
G-7 ministers adopt pandemic pact →
Health ministers from the G-7 group of nations adopted a pandemic pact during a two-day meeting in Berlin. The agreement aims to improve pandemic surveillance and identification systems globally and establish a mechanism for a swift, coordinated response. Read more.
The state of the TRIPS waiver →
For Devex, I hosted a 30-minute discussion on the status of the TRIPS waiver and the impact its proposal could have on the future of intellectual property discussions within the World Trade Organization. Watch here.
And read the coverage of the discussion here: Can a ‘watered-down’ TRIPS waiver still matter?
The battle for Paxlovid →
Rich countries are snapping up available Covid-19 treatments, leaving the rest of the world months away from gaining access. The wait in some middle-income countries could be even longer.
“We still have deaths every day, and coming into winter it will increase,” said Luis Villarroel Villalón, who leads a nonprofit in Chile that provides legal services. His is among the dozens of middle-income countries looking at a wait, which could stretch well into 2023, for the new treatments, particularly Pfizer’s oral antiviral, Paxlovid. “Lives could be saved through Paxlovid,” said Villalón. Read more.
'Critical' meeting of G-7 development and health ministers kick off →
Key G-7 meetings of development and health ministers kicked off this week in Berlin with the launch of an alliance for global food security — a G-7 and World Bank initiative — to coordinate global food security measures. Read more.
Calls to restart testing for parasitic disease at U.S. CDC →
American experts on neglected tropical diseases are warning that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's suspension of testing for most parasitic infections, which has been ongoing now for more than seven months, is delaying diagnoses and treatment and affecting patient care. But there is still no timeline for resuming most of the tests. Read more.
TRIPS waiver compromise tabled at WTO finds few takers →
Discussions began last week within the World Trade Organization over a proposal to temporarily waive patent protections on COVID-19 vaccines. Even as WTO officials press for a resolution ahead of a long-delayed ministerial conference in June, the halting reactions of members to the document signal that reaching consensus in a month — or at all — will not be easy. Read more.