Tagged with Vaccines

Global Paula Barbosa, head of influenza policy and advocacy at the IFPMA and board member of the #TogetherAgainstFlu campaign, looks ahead to what could be a devastating 2021/22 flu season, with natural immunity among vulnerable populations down following the pandemic induced lockdowns and preventive measures of last year. Barbosa lays out…

Russia The latest news from Russian healthcare and life sciences, including the WHO’s decision to suspend the approval process for the country’s Sputnik V COVID vaccine, hesitant uptake of Sputnik V both at home and abroad, and an in-depth feature on Russia’s untreated pain epidemic.     Sputnik V: WHO suspends…

Turkey The president of the Turkish Health Institutes (TUSEB), Dr Erhan Akdoğan, provides a behind-the-scenes look at the development process of Turkovac, the country’s first homegrown COVID-19 vaccine which is currently undergoing phase III clinical studies. Dr Akdoğan took over TUSEB, and the nine institutes under its responsibility, in the middle…

Turkey Ersin Erfa, CEO of Centurion, a Turkish manufacturer, discusses the company’s high ambitions, R&D capabilities, and their work on a COVID-19 treatment currently in phase II clinical trials. Erfa explains how their work on orphan drugs, innovative generics, vaccines and plasma will help them continue partnering with global companies to…

Global The global push to vaccinate populations against COVID-19 has played out differently in different geographies, with a yawning gap still existing between vaccination rates in developed and developing economies and vaccine hesitancy and scepticism rife in certain countries. Here, three country managers from Pfizer – which is aiming to manufacture…

South Africa A roundup of the latest news from South African pharma, including Aspen’s impressive annual growth, Adcock Ingram’s full year profit drop, and Entos Pharma’s approval for Phase II clinical rials in South Africa for its COVID-19 DNA vaccine candidate. In addition, an African Union envoy says that vaccines made in…

Global Pharma industry leaders have called for rich nations to stop stockpiling excess COVID-19 vaccine doses and stated that there will be enough production by the end of the year to cover the entire global population. The head of Pfizer, J&J, and industry association the IFPMA also hope that this surge…

Spain The Spanish pharma industry has entered the race to develop COVID-19 vaccines through an unexpected contender: an animal health company. HIPRA, headquartered in Catalonia, has received approval to begin human trials and expects to manufacture over 400 million doses in 2022.   While Spain ranks amongst the top 10 countries…

Singapore AstraZeneca (AZ)’s country president for Singapore, Vinod Narayanan, outlines the challenges of taking the reins at an affiliate against the backdrop of a pandemic and how the Anglo-Swedish company’s quest for a COVID-19 vaccine has opened up new partnership opportunities in the region. Narayanan also touches on Singapore’s open ecosystem…

Japan Writing in the August edition of DIA’s Global Forum, Kotone Matsuyama of the Nippon Medical School gives a run-through of Japan’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, from the organisation and communication of the country’s public health apparatus to the rollout of treatments and vaccines and the growing use of remote auditing…

Spain The latest from Spanish pharma, including the Patent and Trademark Office’s warning of the importance of IP protection for medical advancements, Grifols’ expansion in Africa through a manufacturing plant in Nigeria, Almirall’s newest EMA approval, and COVID-19 vaccination updates.   Spanish Patent Office: medical advances would be “inconceivable” without patents…

Morocco After implementing the most successful COVID-19 inoculation campaign on the African continent, Morocco is looking to bolster its biologics and vaccine manufacturing capacity via two major agreements with Swedish CDMO Recipharm and Chinese Sinopharm. The North African nation hopes to be better able to supply the health needs of its…