Tagged with Vaccines,

Turkey Prof. Hasan Mandal, president of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), explains how the COVID-19 platform coordinated by the agency has transformed the Turkish ecosystem by bringing together 436 researchers from 49 different institutions to collaborate on 17 drug and vaccine development projects. In addition, Prof. Mandal…

Africa Three months after the World Bank announced a EUR 600 million loan to South Africa’s Aspen Pharmacare, the African continent has received more good news as it seeks to increase vaccine manufacturing know-how.   BioNTech, the company behind Pfizer’s mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine, sold under the brand name Comirnaty, recently announced…

Korea Amid global supply shortages and shipment delays for COVID-19 vaccines, South Korea has launched an ambitious 2.2 trillion won (USD 1.9 billion) investment plan to become one of the world’s five largest COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing hubs by 2025. Here, we provide a rundown of some of the key companies involved…

Brazil The latest news from Brazil, including Pfizer’s plans to vaccinate the entire Brazilian city of Toledo, what the US can learn from Brazil’s successful vaccine campaign, and a new deal to import the vaccine candidate from China’s CanSino Biologics.   Pfizer will vaccinate entire city in Brazil as part of…

Africa In a notable first, following successful pilot immunisation programmes in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended that the RTS,S malaria vaccine be rolled out across sub-Saharan Africa and in other regions with moderate to high malaria transmission.   Financing for the pilot programme has been…

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…

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…