Swiss court forces Covid vaccine procurement transparency Court forces Switzerland to release unredacted Covid vaccine contracts from the pandemic.

A step in the right direction to ensure transparency even though forced by courts in Switzerland. Crazy prices charged by pharmaceutical companies for COVID vaccines. www.swissinfo.ch/eng/drug-pri...

Finally some good news .....

“What’s left for me to do? To play God,” said Julio Ramirez, head of the oncology unit at the regional public hospital in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala’s second largest city. “The first patient who arrives, that’s who I’m going to give the treatment to because that’s all I can do.”

How Merck turned its wonder drug into a blockbuster — and priced out cancer patients worldwide - ICIJ The pharmaceutical giant has built a fortress of patents, traded in secrecy and relentlessly lobbied to guard its revenue kingpin Keytruda.

List prices range from about $80,000 for a year’s treatment in Germany to $208,000 in the U.S., $93,000 in Lebanon to about $130,000 in Colombia, $65,000 in South Africa to $116,000 in Croatia. www.icij.org/investigatio...

If you’re looking for an NGO to support through your charitable contributions this year, I strongly recommend them. Been following their work for years. Believe me, every penny contributed by you will be put to good use, supporting and covering health needs of women in India.

Cherry blossom with sun on the side

Spring is here

MSF report finds no safe places for women and girls in Darfur | MSF Our latest report on Sudan documents widespread and systematic sexual violence across roads, fields and displacement camps in Darfur, both in areas affected by conflict and far from frontlines.

Amid crazy conflict setting, it's always the women and girls who get the worst of it. Kudos to all those woman who courageously stepped up to share their stories for this heartbreaking yet much needed report by MSF. #SexualViolence in Darfur, Sudan.

NEW: US pharmaceutical corporation Gilead Sciences is refusing to sell groundbreaking HIV prevention drug to MSF.

I wonder if state regulations of any kinds be helpful ! I mean people are using AI for diagnosis left and right.

AMR is everywhere. But situation is much much worse in crisis and conflict-affected settings. Read this report of ours that reveals our experience of witnessing AMR and struggling to deal with it in South Sudan, Ethiopia, Nigeria and now Gaza.

I hacked ChatGPT and Google's AI - and it only took 20 minutes I found a way to make AI tell you lies – and I'm not the only one.

Perils of AI: When I asked about the best hot-dog-eating tech journalists, Google parroted the gibberish from my website, both in the Gemini app and AI Overviews..ChatGPT did the same thing, though Claude, a chatbot made by the company Anthropic, wasn't fooled. www.bbc.com/future/artic...

Making treatment for obesity more equitable 2026 may prove a pivotal year for obesity. GLP-1 receptor agonists have revolutionised obesity management over the past 10 years. Mounting evidence has established their benefits across many cardiomet...

Lancet: "From next month, patents for semaglutide will expire in several countries, including in Brazil, Canada, China, India, and Türkyie—amounting to about 40% of the world's population. Manufacturers in China and India stand poised to launch a raft of biosimilars."

whoa 50 brands. Thats news for me.

Candidates prepare for WHO Director-General election There is a wide field of unofficial candidates. Whoever succeeds will take the helm of an agency in turmoil. John Zarocostas reports from Geneva.

More on WHO DG elections www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Report: Near point-of-care tests for tuberculosis | MSF Our latest report from the TACTiC project provides details on near point-of-care tests for tuberculosis.

MSF also issued a brief fact sheet in this regard few days ago: www.msf.org/report-near-...

A great tool to be used in remote settings for countries having limited resources. Hoping for a quicker roll out now. #TBSky

Tuberculosis funding cuts could cost households up to $80 billion

Tuberculosis funding cuts could cost households up to $80 billion www.cidrap.umn.edu/tuberculosis...

Report: Near point-of-care tests for tuberculosis | MSF Our latest report from the TACTiC project provides details on near point-of-care tests for tuberculosis.

Read MSF's factsheet on emerging near point-of-care nucleic acid amplification tests (nPOC-NAATs) for TB. Watch out for more details on MiniDock Ultra (Pluslife), the first TB nPOC-NAAT test available for procurement through the Global Fund and the GDF. www.msf.org/report-near-...

Want To Become The Next WHO Director-General? Get In Line  - Health Policy Watch As the mandate of Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus approaches its expiration in August 2027, the high-stakes manoeuvring for the next WHO Director-General (DG) of the World Health Organization (WHO) has ...

Coming soon: Next round of WHO DG elections amid massive cuts and fund shortage: healthpolicy-watch.news/want-to-beco...

Different kind of yellow flowers in a green house garden in Geneva

It’s spring already in a green house garden in Geneva

Worth noting for people following PABS discussions at Geneva level. There are attempts underway to roll back existing laws in Brazil that ensure broader post-trial access for clinical trial participants.

With foreign aid cuts continue to impact TB programs globally, there is a high risk that such recommendations that allow a better quality of life to people living with TB will slip even further down the priority list. Thanks to Stephanie Nolen for persistently spotlighting these field stories

4 Months Trapped in a Hospital for an Obsolete Way of Treating Their Disease

WHO recommended community-based, out-patient treatment for people with drug resistant TB in 2011. Yet, 15 years after this recommendation and 8 years after the introduction of all-oral regimen, many countries are still slow in adopting this guidance. Must read by @stephanienolen.bsky.social

Of the 149 compulsory licenses that were pursued, 49 were not issued because companies responded. Of those, 23 were not issued after the pharmaceutical company offered to increase access through voluntary licensing, a price discount, or donations. Most often, discounts were offered.

The number of compulsory licenses pursued by wealthier nations rose from 15% of all such licenses between 2005 and 2014 to 54% between 2015 and 2024. In all, 149 such licenses were considered by any country - rich or poor - during that 20-year span, according to the study in BMJ Global Health.

More high-income countries have used compulsory licenses to gain access to meds, study finds More high-income countries have used compulsory licenses to gain access to meds, study finds.

The use of compulsory licenses by high-income countries to gain access to medicines increased considerably over a recent 10-year period, mostly for treatments of noncommunicable diseases such as cancer and cystic fibrosis, along with Covid-19, a new study found.

The anti-HIV jab Buhle trusts — and 456 000 South Africans can soon get for free - Bhekisisa For the past three years, Buhle Sikade, 22, has been using an injection that gives her almost foolproof protection against getting HIV through sex — medicine that around 456 000 other HIV-negative peo...

Modelling scientists at Wits University have calculated that if enough people — between 1-2 million per year — take LEN just once, new infections would decline fast enough so that South Africa can end #AIDS as a public health threat by 2043. #IDSky