Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Generic Drugmakers Team Up To Help Poorer Nations Get COVID Treatments
Stat: Generic Makers To Partner With Medicines Patent Pool On Covid-19 Drugs
In an unusual move, 18 big generic drug makers have pledged to work with a leading nonprofit organization to accelerate access to Covid-19 treatments for low- and middle-income countries. The idea is to encourage brand-name drug makers to negotiate deals to either license rights to their medicines or, where licenses are unnecessary, make it possible to increase manufacturing capacity, according to the Medicines Patent Pool, a United Nations-backed agency that works with the pharmaceutical industry to widen access to medicines and that helped organized the effort. (Silverman, 11/11)
AP: Turkey Bans Smoking In Public Places To Curb Virus Spread
Turkey’s interior ministry has banned smoking in public places across the country to curb the spread of COVID-19. In a statement late Wednesday, the ministry said smoking would be banned in busy streets, bus stops and public squares when necessary. It said the nationwide mask mandate in public spaces, which has been in effect for several months, must be followed at all times and smokers were routinely violating the mask rule. (11/12)
The Washington Post: Bolsonaro Says Brazilians Must Stop Being ‘Sissies’ About Coronavirus
Brazil should stop being “a country of sissies,” President Jair Bolsonaro said Tuesday as the country’s coronavirus death toll surpassed 162,000 — the second highest in the world, behind only the United States. “All of us are going to die one day,” the far-right leader told reporters at a news conference, Reuters reported. “Everyone is going to die. There is no point in escaping from that, in escaping from reality. We have to stop being a country of sissies.” (Noori Farzan and Berger, 11/11)
The Washington Post: New Zealand Reports Infection With No Link To Quarantine Facilities For The First Time Since August
For the first time since August, New Zealand has identified a mystery coronavirus infection with no known link to government-supervised quarantine facilities, suggesting possible community transmission. Authorities said Thursday that the case involves a young woman who lives alone and attends the Auckland University of Technology, but has not been on campus since the middle of October. (Farzan, 11/12)
In other global developments —
Stat: French Regulator Indicted For Manslaughter Over Drug Side Effects
The National Agency for Medicines and Health Products in France has been indicted for “injuries and manslaughter through negligence” in connection with the availability of a Sanofi (SNY) epilepsy drug that has been linked to more than 400 congenital birth defects or stillborn births. The indictment, which the regulator disclosed in a brief statement, is the latest development in a tumultuous scandal over the medicine, known as Depakine in France. (Silverman, 11/11)
Reuters: Hundreds Of Disillusioned Doctors Leave Lebanon, In Blow To Healthcare
In the past year, Lebanon has been through a popular uprising against its political leaders, the bankruptcy of the state and banking system, a COVID-19 pandemic and, in August, a huge explosion at the port that destroyed swathes of Beirut. Some of those who can leave the country have done so, and an increasing number of them are doctors and surgeons, many at the top of their profession. With them goes Beirut’s proud reputation as the medical capital of the Middle East. “This is a mass exodus,” said Boulos, Associate Professor of Clinical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the American University of Beirut (AUB). (Nakhoul an Abdallah, 11/12)
