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The implementation of a U.S. tariff on Singapore's pharmaceutical exports has been delayed to allow companies to negotiate possible exemptions with the U.S. administration, the Straits Times newspaper cited a junior minister as saying on Tuesday. The U.S. announced a 100% tariff on branded drugs last month and it was originally meant to take effect from October 1. The Straits Times did not say if the minister of state for trade, Gan Siow Huang, gave a fresh date for the tariff's introduction. But she said Singapore-based pharmaceutical companies are now waiting to hear from the U.S. administration to determine if their plans to build and expand manufacturing capacity would qualify them for an exemption, the paper reported. Singapore's exports to the United States are subject to a 10% baseline tariff. That is lower than the tariffs imposed on its Southeast Asian neighbours, but sectoral levies - including the 100% tariff on branded drugs - remain a significant concern. Singapore exports about S$4 billion ($3.1 billion) of pharmaceutical products to the United States, most of which are branded drugs, and pharmaceuticals form around 13% of all Singapore's exports to the country. Broader sectoral tariffs could hurt demand for Singaporean products, including semiconductors and consumer electronics as...

One in six laboratory-confirmed bacterial infections are resistant to antibiotic treatments, the World Health Organization said on Monday, calling for the medicines to be used more responsibly. Resistance to antibiotics rose in around 40% of samples monitored, the U.N. health agency said in a report based on data from more than 100 countries between 2016-2023. “Antimicrobial resistance is outpacing advances in modern medicine, threatening the health of families worldwide,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement accompanying the report. "We must use antibiotics responsibly, and make sure everyone has access to the right medicines, quality-assured diagnostics, and vaccines." Globally, resistance to antibiotics directly accounts for more than 1 million deaths annually. While genetic changes in pathogens are part of a natural process, human activity such as the misuse and overuse of antibiotics to control infections in humans, animals and plants is accelerating that process. The highest levels of antibiotic resistance are in parts of South Asia and the Middle East where about one in three reported infections are resistant, according to the WHO. In Africa, resistance to the first-choice treatment for some types of bacteria found in bloodstream infections which can cause sepsis, organ failure and death, now exceed 70%, it said.

The World Health Organization on Monday issued a health advisory warning about three contaminated cough syrups identified in India, urging authorities to report any detection of these medicines in their countries to the health agency. The WHO said the affected medicines are specific batches of Coldrif from Sresan Pharmaceutical, Respifresh TR from Rednex Pharmaceuticals and ReLife from Shape Pharma. The agency said the contaminated products pose significant risks and can cause severe, potentially life-threatening illness. India's health authority, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization, informed the WHO the syrups were reportedly consumed by children, all under the age of five, who recently died in the central state of Madhya Pradesh's Chhindwara district. The cough medicine contained toxic diethylene glycol in quantities nearly 500 times the permissible limit. CDSCO said none of the contaminated medicines have been exported from India and there is no evidence of illegal export. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration confirmed on Friday that these toxic cough syrups had not been shipped to the United States.

India's financial crime fighting agency is conducting searches at seven premises of Sresan Pharma, the maker of cough syrup Coldrif, which was linked to the deaths of several children in the state of Madhya Pradesh, a source told Reuters on Monday. The searches in Chennai city relate to allegations of money laundering against the syrup maker, the source said.

AstraZeneca (AZN.L), opens new tab CEO Pascal Soriot looked relaxed standing in the Oval Office on Friday as U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a medicine deal that will lower drug prices for millions of Americans. The hard work had paid off, allowing Soriot to clinch the first agreement for a non-U.S. drugmaker and shield his Anglo-Swedish company from threatened steep tariffs on imports to the U.S. - the world's largest pharmaceuticals market. That moment at the White House was the culmination of public and private meetings between Soriot and Trump officials, stretching back to November last year when Trump won election, three sources close to the negotiations told Reuters. And it went down to the wire with a last-minute push from AstraZeneca to seal the agreement. "You've kept me up at night and my team as well. But it's been really worth it," Soriot joked to Trump.

The Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) has launched a new webpage on its official website dedicated to its membership in the International Council for Harmonisation of Technical Requirements for Pharmaceuticals for Human Use (ICH). The page features draft guidelines—currently under development— for public consultation from the private sector feedback as well as the adopted guidelines by the SFDA. It also includes a list of the ICH working groups in which the SFDA experts actively participating. This initiative reflects SFDA’s commitment to advancing the national drug regulatory framework, enhancing stakeholder engagement in following its global initiatives and strengthening the Kingdom’s presence and role in harmonizing with global regulatory practices. It is worth noting that in June 2024, the SFDA was elected as a member of the ICH Management Committee, becoming the first entity in the Middle East to join this committee. The SFDA had previously joined the Council as a Regulatory Member in June 2021.

Swiss medical technology company Ypsomed said on Friday it will establish its first manufacturing facility in the United States with an initial $200 million investment in the town of Holly Springs, North Carolina. Ypsomed, a maker of self-injection systems, said it plans to create about 100 new jobs and wants to roughly double that number in the coming years as demand rises. The plant is due to begin supplying the U.S. market from the end of 2027. The investment comes as Swiss companies grapple with the challenges posed by the U.S. government's trade policies, which have imposed 39% tariffs on Switzerland. Earlier this year, Ypsomed opened its first manufacturing plant in China. The firm is also expanding its operations in the northeastern German city of Schwerin, where it is investing several hundred million Swiss francs. Ypsomed is also increasing domestic production capacity, including a 200 million franc ($248 million) outlay at its facility in Solothurn in northwest Switzerland.

AstraZeneca broke ground on a new plant in Virginia on Thursday and said it would spend $4.5 billion on the facility as drugmakers look to respond to President Donald Trump's call for more medicines to be made in the U.S. and at lower costs. The site in Albemarle County, about 120 miles (193 km) southwest of Washington, will be the Anglo-Swedish company's largest manufacturing facility worldwide. The investment is part of AstraZeneca's plan announced in July to spend $50 billion to expand U.S. research and manufacturing by 2030. AstraZeneca said on Thursday the plant will create 600 highly skilled jobs, and 3,000 more will be created for its construction. DRUGMAKERS LOOK TO RAMP UP U.S. MANUFACTURING The company also said it was expanding plans for the site to include production of blockbuster cancer medicines along with future weight-loss and metabolic drugs. It said it would spend $500 million more than initially planned. The groundbreaking was attended by a senior Trump administration health official, Dr Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. "I congratulate AstraZeneca for their investment and invite other foreign manufacturers to follow suit," he said. ANALYSTS ASK: ARE INDUSTRY MOVES LARGELY POLITICAL? Trump has, using the threat of imposing tariffs on...

The United Nations agency focusing on the HIV/AIDS pandemic could close by the end of next year as the UN restructures in the face of a funding crisis, according to a UN document published online. UNAIDS will "sunset" by the end of 2026, the document published on Thursday reads, part of a set of proposals from the UN to member states which they will have to decide on. It adds that UNAIDS' expertise should be shifted into the wider UN system in the following year. The UN is streamlining as it copes with the fallout from U.S. foreign aid cuts under President Donald Trump that have gutted humanitarian agencies. UNAIDS said in a statement in response to the document that it already had a transition plan in place which would see a 55% reduction in staff in the short term and a review in 2027 that would ultimately lead to its closure. It said any accelerated timeline as outlined in the UN document, which was drafted by the Secretary General, would have to be approved by the UNAIDS board. UNAIDS began operating in 1996. Since the first cases of HIV were reported more than 40 years ago, 88 million people have become infected and...

Last year's updated COVID-19 vaccines helped prevent severe outcomes including hospitalizations and deaths, according to data from a large study of U.S. military veterans published on Wednesday. Vaccinated veterans who developed COVID after receiving the 2024-2025 boosters from Moderna or Pfizer/BioNTech were also less likely to visit the emergency room for complications, compared with unvaccinated COVID patients, researchers reported in The New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers tracked 164,132 veterans who simultaneously received a 2024-2025 COVID booster and a flu shot, and 131,839 who received only the flu vaccine. The vast majority of participants were at least 45 years old, and virtually all who received a COVID shot got one of the two approved mRNA-based vaccines that have faced renewed scrutiny from U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has questioned their safety and efficacy, contrary to scientific evidence. MEANINGFUL CLINICAL BENEFIT "The vaccines are still providing additional, not perfect, protection against meaningful outcomes, including hospitalization and death, even though such severe outcomes are now much less common overall than early in the pandemic," said Dr. Jesse Goodman of Georgetown Medical Center in Washington, D.C., who was not involved in the study. Over six months, veterans who received the COVID and flu vaccines...