Drug-Molecule Development Industry Hit By Ukraine Invasion
A report in the Wall Street Journal highlights how Ukraine is a globally-important source of molecular "building blocks" for early drug development. Separately, Stat reports on questions over cutting off drug supplies to Russia as part of the worldwide sanctions efforts.
The Wall Street Journal:
Ukraine’s World-Class Drug-Molecule Industry Imperiled By Russia Invasion
Russian attacks are endangering Ukraine’s world-leading medicinal chemistry industry, which supplies scientists across the globe with molecular building blocks needed for early drug development. Ukraine’s dominance in medicinal chemistry is little known beyond drug developers, who fine-tune a drug’s molecular design to give it the best chance of hitting the desired biological target in the body. Kyiv-based Enamine Ltd. has become a go-to supplier for drug-discovery scientists at academic laboratories and the largest pharmaceutical companies. (Roland, 3/20)
Stat:
When Should Drug Makers Cut Off Essential Medicines To Russia?
Just say nyet? As the war in Ukraine intensifies, several of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies have now joined hundreds of corporations in other industries that are cutting ties to Russia. One by one, many big drugmakers announced they would wind down clinical trial work, curtail investments, and withhold medicines that are not essential, which is to say, lifesaving treatments. But is that enough? (Silverman, 3/19)
More updates on the war in Ukraine —
Fox News:
Chernobyl Staff Held Hostage By Russian Troops For Weeks Rotated: IAEA
Fox News confirmed that a group of 46 employees rotated into the facility on Sunday to start a new shift. Russian forces took control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on Feb. 24, with the staff there forced to stay behind and continue to operate the plant where radioactive waste management facilities are located. Officials had repeatedly expressed alarm that the staff was suffering exhaustion after weeks of forced, unrelieved work and that this compromised the decommissioned plant's safety. (Betz, 3/20)
The Wall Street Journal:
War In Ukraine Is Already Taking Its Toll On Global Food Supplies
Ukrainian farmer Igor Borisov has 2,000 metric tons of corn from the fall harvest stuck in a warehouse behind Russian battle lines. Like other farmers across Ukraine, his crop for this year is also imperiled. Global concerns that Russia’s invasion would curtail Ukraine’s 2022 harvest have come to fruition. The crop shortfall will extend to the many countries that rely on Ukraine for wheat, corn and cooking oil. (MacDonald, 3/20)
NPR:
Russia's War With Ukraine Is Devastating To Ukraine's War On TB
"We have 20 patients we can't find, so we don't know if they are alive or not," says Dr. Olha Konstantynovska. She's referring to the tuberculosis patients under her care in Kharkiv, where, as in much of Ukraine, the Russian war has disrupted lives – including her own. She and her three daughters evacuated to her father's home about 20 miles away after a bomb hit a building down the street from their apartment. TB — a serious bacterial infection of the lungs — is a big problem in Ukraine. According to the World Health Organization, the country has the fourth highest incidence of the disease in Europe. And it has one of the highest rates of multidrug resistant TB anywhere in the world. (Daniel, 3/19)
AP:
Young Ukrainian Cancer Patients Get Medical Help In Poland
Twenty-two-month-old Yeva Vakulenko had been through four rounds of chemotherapy for leukemia at a hospital in Ukraine, and then suffered a relapse. As she began returning again for more treatment, Russia invaded, disrupting doctors’ efforts to cure her. Air raids forced the toddler to shelter in the basement of the hospital in the western city of Lviv for hours at a time, making her feel even worse. She cried a lot and sought comfort from her grandmother, who is caring for her after her parents were in an accident that left her mother disabled with brain and leg injuries. (Gera and Kuczynski, 3/19)
In other global developments —
AP:
China Reports First COVID-19 Deaths In More Than A Year
China’s health authorities reported two COVID-19 deaths on Saturday, the first since January 2021, as the country battles its worst outbreak in two years driven by a surge in the highly transmissible omicron variant. The deaths, both in northeastern China’s Jilin province, bring the country’s coronavirus death toll to 4,638. (3/20)
Bloomberg:
China Says Vaccine Makers Upgraded Shots To Fight Omicron
Chinese officials said vaccine makers have upgraded their Covid-19 vaccines against the omicron variant and other strains but new shots will be validated for safety and efficacy before they can be rolled out. Widely-used inactivated shots in the country have been tweaked to fight up to three variants, including omicron and the preceding predominant delta strain, according to Zheng Zhongwei, an official who oversees Covid vaccine development at the National Health Commission. Another protein subunit shot targeting four variants is seeking approval for human testing overseas, he said. (3/19)
