Bharat Biotech’s typhoid vaccine

Bharat Biotech’s typhoid vaccine gets WHO nod (Hindustan times:

20180104)

http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

TYPBAR TCV IS WORLD’S FIRST TYPHOID VACCINE CLINICALLY PROVEN FOR

USE ON RECIPIENTS AS YOUNG AS SIX MONTHS

From page 01 NEW DELHI: Bharat Biotech’s typhoid vaccine Typbar TCV has received

World health Organization’s prequalification, which allows health and humanitarian

organisations such as UNICEF, GAVI and Pan-American Health Organization to procure it

for public health vaccination programmes across the world.

Typbar TCV is the world’s first typhoid vaccine clinically proven for use on recipients who

can be as young as six months. A single dose offers 87% protective efficacy against typhoid,

which sickened 12 million people and killed 130,000 worldwide in 2016.

Though the vaccine is approved for use in India, it is not yet a part of India’s Universal

Immunisation Programme. It’s retail price in India is Rs 1,500.

Typhoid fever is caused by food and water contaminated by Salmonella Typhi (S. Typhi)

bacteria; the cost of treating it ranges from $50 to $ 5,000 for outpatient and inpatient

treatments in developing nations.

WHO recommends the use of typhoid conjugate vaccines for use on children between the

ages of 6 months and 23 months, and catch-up vaccinations for children between the ages of

2 years and 15 years. “This vaccine will be a game changer because the unavailability of an

effective vaccine for young children has been one of the major barriers to controlling typhoid.

With GAVI’s approval of US$ 85 million funding, the first introductions of the vaccine in

GAVI-supported countries are expected as early as the first half of 2019,” said Dr Seth

Berkley, CEO, GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance.

DAILY NEWS BULLETINLEADING HEALTH, POPULATION AND FAMILY WELFARE STORIES OF THE DayThursday 20180104

Drug-resistant “superbug” strains of S. Typhi have been reported from several countries in

Africa and South Asia, including India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.

“Typhoid is hugely underdiagnosed and most people are not given appropriate treatment,

leading to antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

“Since preventing typhoid will reduce disease and with it AMR, I think it’s an important

vaccine in South Asia, where the burden of typhoid, and the AMR burden, are growing,” said

Ramanan Laxminarayan, senior research scholar and lecturer at Princeton Environmental

Institute.

Bharat Biotech has offered the vaccine at US $1.50 per dose for procurement for GAVI-

supported countries. “Recognising the importance of sustained vaccine procurement for low-

income and low-middle income countries, we have offered a further price reduction to around

$ 1.0 or below/dose, post procurement of 100 million doses for lower and lower-middle

income countries ,” said Dr Krishna Ella, Chairman and Managing Director of Bharat

Biotech. Bharat Biotech has partnered with the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation and the

US Centers for Disease Control to evaluate the effectiveness of Typbar TCV in Navi Mumbai

using 100,000 doses, with an additional 300,000 doses at subsidised rates

Lifesaving Drugs

Made in China: New and Potentially Lifesaving Drugs (The Indian express:

20180104)

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/business/china-drugs-health-care.html

SHANGHAI — One new drug promises to stop cancer from spreading to other organs.

Another would treat blood cancer. A third would use the body’s immune system to kill

tumors.

All three show encouraging results, and need just one more step to be approved for use in the

United States. The drugs have something else in common: They were created in China.

For years, China’s drug industry concentrated on replicating Western medicines. Getting new

drugs approved was a frustrating and time-consuming process. Companies thought plowing

millions of dollars into research and development was risky and stuck to safer revenue

streams.

The country is now pushing to play a bigger role in the global drug industry. Millions of

people in China have cancer or diabetes, and the government has made pharmaceutical

innovation a national priority. Officials have promised to speed up drug approvals, and to

reverse a brain drain by luring scientists back home. The authorities are providing land,

grants and tax breaks, and investing in research.

Air quality

Air quality flirts with ‘severe’, relief likely today (The Times of India:

20180104)

http://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/#

New Delhi: Mercury continued to remain low with the maximum temperature settling below

20 degrees Celsius for a second straight day running. Delhi recorded a maximum of 18.4

degrees Celsius on Wednesday — one notch below normal for the season, as air quality

hovered between “very poor” and “severe” throughout the day. The overall Air Quality Index

(AQI) was recorded at 398 on Wednesday which is classified as “very poor”. Experts forecast

the fog intensity to reduce over the coming days which may see an improvement in the air

quality.

The capital had recorded its lowest maximum temperature on Tuesday at 17.7 degrees

Celsius as dense fog continued to prevail for a third straight day in the morning. On

Wednesday, the Safdarjung observatory — the base for Delhi’s weather — recorded a

maximum of 18.4 degrees Celsius. The minimum was meanwhile recorded at 7.4 degrees

Celsius. Officials from the Regional Weather Forecasting Centre (RWFC) said maximum

temperature is once again likely to rise, however, the minimum will fall to around 6 degrees

Celsius in the next four days.

“The fog intensity is reducing as the moisture content has reduced and wind speeds have also

increased. By Saturday, there will be shallow fog and the maximum temperature by that

period will be around 20 degrees Celsius again. The minimum however is expected to stay

around 6-7 degrees Celsius,” said a RWFC official.

Delhi’s average PM2.5 and PM10 levels also showed improvement on Wednesday as

compared to Tuesday, with a dip in the evening as wind speeds picked up. At 8pm, data

according to the CPCB central control room showed average PM2.5 levels to be around 215

micrograms per cubic metre, while the average PM 10 levels were around 352 micrograms

per cubic metre. The safe standard for these ultrafine particles is 60 and 100 micrograms per

cubic metre respectively.

New drugs will have to clear American regulatory hurdles. If they do, they can stand as proof

of China’s growing ability to produce cutting-edge treatments, part of a broader

transformation of the country’s economy as it moves into higher-value and increasingly

complex sectors.

China’s drug development is in the earliest stages compared to the broader industry. Some

experts say, however, that it is only a matter of time before China’s medical companies stand

alongside Big Pharma giants like Pfizer and AstraZeneca.

Continue reading the main story

“It’s not whether they are going to,” said Jonathan Wang, senior managing director of

OrbiMed Asia, a health care investment fund. “They are going to.”

For now, access to quality drugs remains a problem in China. Many people buy medicines

from Hong Kong and Macau — territories governed by separate laws. Online forums are

devoted to discussing smuggling generics from India. Others buy the raw ingredients to make

the drugs at home. Those who can afford it fly to the United States.

A growing number of companies are trying to address that shortfall. Hutchison China

MediTech, a firm backed by Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, started out in 2000

trying to develop the herbal drugs used in traditional Chinese medicine. In 2005, the

company, known as Chi-Med, started developing cancer drugs.

At its main laboratory in Shanghai, upward of 350 scientists are surrounded by rodents in

testing rooms. More than half the scientists are at work trying to discover new drugs.

In October, Chi-Med reported that more than 60 percent of patients in second-stage clinical

trials had responded positively to its drug, savolitinib, which it is developing together with

AstraZeneca. Savolitinib — the first drug of its kind — can be used to treat lung, kidney,

gastric and colorectal cancers; it is often used in combination with other AstraZeneca drugs to

shut down pathways that allow the cancer to spread

Jiangsu Hengrui, a Chinese company that has been moving toward developing new drugs

from making generic ones, has the largest research budget of all Chinese drug firms. But its

$180 million annual outlay pales in comparison with the $7.8 billion that Pfizer spent in

2016.

Still, with several drugs in early-stage testing, it is targeting what Zhang Lianshan, the

company’s head of research and development, described as its “ultimate goal”: regulatory

approval in the United States.

“If you have a drug approved by the U.S. F.D.A.,” Mr. Zhang said, “that’s a true

demonstration of innovation.

Chi-Med is awaiting more data. But if further tests get positive results, the company will

apply for what is known as breakthrough therapy designation from the United States Food

and Drug Administration.

It still needs to run Phase 3 trials, the last step before seeking full approval from the F.D.A.,

but breakthrough therapy status would allow the final stage to be sped up. The trials involve

drugs being tested, often against placebos, for their safety and effectiveness on as many as

several thousand patients.

Laura Nelson Carney, an Asia-Pacific health care analyst at Bernstein Research, said that

based on the industry average, the probability of success in Phase 3 trials is 60 to 70 percent.

If all goes according to plan, regulatory approval could come in late 2019, at the earliest, said

Christian Hogg, Chi-Med’s chief executive. “It takes 20 years to get an overnight success,

and that’s where we are at the moment,” he said.

The last time China produced a new drug for the global pharmaceutical industry was in the

1970s, when the Chinese scientist Tu Youyou was credited with the discovery of artemisinin

after Mao Zedong asked her to come up with a cure for malaria. But global recognition did

not come until much later, after the Swiss drug maker Novartis bought the Chinese patent and

started producing it in the late 1990s. Ms. Tu was eventually awarded a Nobel Prize in 2015.

That is changing. Along with Chi-Med, another company, BeiGene, is already in Phase 3

trials globally for a drug used to treat a variety of lymphomas, the most common form of

blood cancer, and an immunotherapy drug that aims to destroy tumors. It has also teamed up

with Celgene and Merck to develop cancer drugs.

Now, thanks to those shifts, as well as incentives offered by the government, scientists

trained overseas are returning to China.

After 20 years in the United States with Eli Lilly and Pfizer, Joan Shen moved to Shanghai in

2011 to lead clinical trials for Pfizer. She now heads research and development for a Chinese

biotech firm, I-Mab Biopharma. The local government has helped secure funding for the

company, and provided laboratory space in a high-tech business park.

“The funds are chasing us,” she said, comparing the investment environment between China

and the United States, “instead of us having to spend numerous hours convincing investors.”

Despite the optimism, Chinese pharmaceutical companies that want to go abroad still face

obstacles. Competition among drugmakers in major markets like the United States is intense,

and Chinese companies are hamstrung in particular by a lack of money committed to

research.

Ms. Carney said she expected 20 or 30 Chinese-made drugs to seek Phase 3 trials in the

United States, the world’s biggest market for cancer drugs, within the next five years. Those

that make it through will very likely be cheaper than those made by foreign companies, she

said, based on current pricing patterns in China.

Meanwhile, Big Pharma is shrugging off its long-held fears of China’s rampant

counterfeiting and cumbersome bureaucracy and setting up its own labs here. Johnson &

Johnson, Novartis and Sanofi have all opened research centers in Shanghai to create drugs for

Chinese patients. Executives say that the government has made inroads in toughening

protections of pharmaceutical patents.

And the pace of approvals has also quickened. In worst-case scenarios, drug companies

needed to wait up to two years to get permission just to start clinical trials, which would then

take several more years. The comparable waiting period in the United States is typically 30

days.

Under Bi Jingquan, who was appointed the head of China’s Food and Drug Administration in

2015, the agency has begun cracking down on companies making low-quality drugs and

agreed to accept foreign data for clinical

Air quality

Air quality improves to ‘very poor’, relief from heavy fog after 3 days

(Hindustan times: 20180104)

http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

From page 01 NEW DELHI: Delhi on Wednesday saw some relief from heavy fog even as

the air quality improved to ‘very poor’ from being ‘severe’ on Tuesday.

n The maximum temperature on Wednesday was 18.4 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal,

while the minimum was 7.4 degrees Celsius, which is normal for this time of the year.

The average Air Quality Index of Delhi was recorded at 398, a marginal dip from Tuesday’s

408, which was in the ‘severe’ zone. The AQI is calculated on a scale of 0-500. An AQI

between 0-50 is considered good, 51-100 satisfactory, 101-200 moderate, 201-300 poor, 301-

400 very poor and 401-500 severe.

According to RK Jenamani, the director in-charge of the IGI airport meteorological unit, the

fog situation improved on Wednesday after three days.

“From 4am-6am, the visibility went down to around 100-150m. It then improved. The

runway visual range was above the minimum requirement for take-offs and landings. There is

similar forecast for Thursday,” he said.

A Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) official said there was no impact on flight

operations due to Delhi weather on Wednesday.

At the Safdarjung observatory, which is considered a representative of the entire city, at 4am

visibility came down to 100m.

“In the morning hours, after 6am, it became 400m and later it was 1,500m. This is because of

good wind speed to the tune of 12-15km/hour throughout the day. On Thursday, there is a

forecast of moderate fog with visibility expected to be 500m in the morning. It will further

improve later in the day,” Kuldeep Srivastava, a senior Met department scientist, said.

In terms of temperature, the maximum on Wednesday was 18.4 degrees Celsius, a notch

below normal, while the minimum was 7.4 degrees Celsius, which is normal for this time of

the year.

According to the MeT department, the maximum and minimum temperatures would be

around 20 and 6 degrees Celsius respectively on Thursday.

The good wind speed also helped improve the air quality. According to the Central Pollution

Control Board’s (CPCB) realtime monitoring, at 7pm on Wednesday, the concentrations of

PM2.5 and PM10 were 227.4ug/ m3 and 374.3ug/m3 respectively.

“Strong winds from the north and north-west are vital for improving Delhi’s air quality,” said

Dipankar Saha, head of the air quality laboratory at CPCB.

Sugar coma’

Sugar coma’ can slow down your brain, warns study (The Times of India:

20180104)

http://epaper.timesgroup.com/Olive/ODN/TimesOfIndia/#

Consuming certain sugars can drastically diminish your cognitive performance, a study has

discovered. Previous studies have explored the positive impact ingesting glucose can have on

your brain, namely improving your memory. However, the consumption of other sugars, such

as fructose and sucrose, can have an adverse effect.

Researchers from the University of Otago in New Zealand decided to examine how common

sugars affected the abilities of 49 people to perform cognitive tasks. Three common dietary

sugars were tested against a placebo sweetener, sucralose.

The participants each took part in simple response time, arithmetic and Stroop interference

tests. The study concluded that the participants who ingested glucose and sucrose performed

worse in the tasks in comparison to those who ingested fructose and the placebo.

One of the study’s authors, Mei Peng, a lecturer in sensory science in the Department of Food

Science at the University of Otago, discussed the way in which consuming sugar can affect

you on a daily basis. “I am fascinated by how our senses influence our behaviour and affect

our everyday lives,” Peng told ‘PsyPost’.

“In particular, how sugar consumption might change the way our brains work.”

“Our study suggests that the ‘sugar coma’ — with regards to glucose — is indeed

Thinkstock

a real phenomenon, where levels of attention seem to decline after consumption of glucose-

containing sugar.”

In 2016, the National Diet and Nutrition Survey announced that consumption of sugary soft

drinks by children aged four to 10 was on the decline. However, last year Public Health

England unveiled new guidelines to reduce the quantity of sugar that people in the UK

consume in their diets. THE INDEPENDENT

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Heart disease

New 'organ-on-a-chip' device mimics heart disease (The Tribune:

20180104)

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/health/new-organ-on-a-chip-device-mimics-heart-

disease/522980.html

Scientists have developed a new 'organ-on-chip device' that mimics atherosclerosis or the

constriction of blood vessels, which is the leading cause of heart attacks and strokes.

The device can help better understand heart diseases and test potential drug therapies, without

experimenting with lab animals.

In a study published in the journal APL Bioengineering, researchers showed how this organ-

on-a-chip could also improve blood testing for patients.

"Atherosclerosis is a very important and complex disease," said Han Wei Hou, a biomedical

engineer at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

It develops when fat, cholesterol and other substances in the blood form plaque that

accumulates on the inside walls of arteries. This build-up constricts the blood vessel, causing

cardiovascular diseases.

Understanding what regulates this abnormal vessel constriction is crucial to studying and

treating vessel disease and preventing acute cardiac arrest.

While researchers have previously developed organ-on-a-chip models of blood vessels, those

devices focused more on recreating the vessel's biological complexity than on its shape and

geometry - which are key factors in atherosclerosis, Hou said.

"It involves not just the biological aspect of endothelial dysfunction, but also the

biomechanics of blood flow," said Hou.

To address blood flow, researchers built a device that fits on a single square-inch chip,

consisting of two stacked chambers separated by a thin and flexible membrane.

The bottom contains air while the top contains a flowing fluid similar in mechanical

properties to blood.

Inside the fluid-filled chamber on top of the membrane, the researchers grow endothelial

cells—the cells that line the inside of blood vessels.

The researchers pump air into the bottom chamber, so the membrane stretches like a balloon

and forms a bubble that blocks the fluid flow. This process simulates the narrowing of a

vessel.

The fluid-filled chamber constricts, causing the fluid to flow faster in some regions and

slower in others.

When the researchers grew the cells under continuous but slow fluid flow, endothelial cells

were able to grow and express a protein called ICAM-1; this protein is associated with

inflammation and is important in the development of atherosclerosis.

The researchers found that when they replaced the cell culture media with human blood,

more immune cells called monocytes bound to the endothelial cells in low-flow regions.

Monocytes are mainly responsible for the accumulation of lipids, which eventually develop

into the plaque that causes atherosclerosis.

These results on a chip are consistent with the widely accepted picture of the disease.

Disturbed blood flow in constricted vessels promotes vascular inflammation, which

encourages the recruitment of monocytes to help create plaques. PTI

New device

New device may help prevent the harms of sitting (The Tribune: 20180104)

http://www.tribuneindia.com/news/health/new-device-may-help-prevent-the-harms-of-

sitting/522530.html

A device that allows you to continuously move your legs while sitting at a desk may boost

metabolic rate more than standing at a workstation, according to a study.

The study by researchers at University of Illinois at Chicago in the US adds to the growing

body of evidence that suggests strategies for increasing non-exercise active thermogenesis are

needed to help overcome the detrimental effects of prolonged sitting.

Thermogenesis is a spontaneous activity unrelated to a fitness routine.

Sitting has been identified as a risk factor for early mortality, independent of the presence of

a disease, such as cancer or diabetes. Up to seven per cent of deaths have been attributed to

sitting alone.

“Sitting is bad for our health, but it is a big part of daily life for many people,” said Craig

Horswill from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

“Exercise is a good way to counteract the negative effects of sitting, but just incorporating

physical activity into one part of our day may not be enough to overcome the damage caused

by prolonged sitting and an otherwise sedentary lifestyle,” said Horswill, senior author of the

study published in the journal WORK.

The researchers compared the metabolic rate produced by three workstations: seated at a

desk, seated at a desk equipped with a device that stimulates leg movement and standing at a

desk.

The device, which is commercially available, was a movable footrest, suspended from the

underside of the desk, which enabled the feet to swing, twist or teeter.

Participants in the study familiarised themselves with the workstations during one visit.

On a second visit, researchers collected metabolic rate and heart rate data during three

progressive stages: seated, seated with the device and standing. Each stage was 15 minutes.

They found that modest movement while seated elevated the metabolic rate more than sitting

and more than standing, by 17 and seven per cent respectively, and had no detrimental effect

on cognitive function.

“These results suggest that non-exercise active thermogenesis, which we call NEAT, can

increase movement and calorie burning, and may have the potential to impact health,” said

Horswill.

“We expected to see the metabolic rate increase with each progressive stage, but instead

found that metabolic rates from movement while seated were either equal to or higher than

rates while standing,” Horswill said. — PTI

Health Records (Dainbik Bhasker: 20180104)

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2018/194/1/image/

Heart Diseases ( Dainik Gagaran: 20180104)

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