Global Health Update: Gene Therapy, Malaria Vaccine, and Disease Outbreaks

This update includes Vertex Pharmaceuticals' legal action concerning fertility support, the introduction of a second malaria vaccine in Ivory Coast, the spread of African swine fever in Vietnam, a decline in global childhood vaccination rates, and recent bird flu outbreaks in the U.S. Also covered are Novo Nordisk's insulin market decision and Gambia's stance on female genital mutilation.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Monday, seeking a court declaration that a fertility support program for patients who are prescribed its gene editing therapy Casgevy does not violate federal anti-kickback laws. Casgevy is approved for the treatment of two genetic disorders - sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia - in the United States.

The world's second vaccine against malaria was launched on Monday as Ivory Coast began a routine vaccine programme using shots developed by the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India. The introduction of the World Health Organization (WHO)-approved R21 vaccine comes six months after the first malaria vaccine, called RTS,S and developed by British drugmaker GSK, began being administered in a routine programme in Cameroon.

African swine fever outbreaks are spreading in Vietnam and could affect its food supplies and put upward pressure on inflation, according to a government document. ASF has for years disrupted the $250 billion global pork market. In the worst outbreak in 2018 and 2019, about half the domestic pig population died in China, the world's biggest producer, causing losses estimated at more than $100 billion.

More children were left out of critical vaccination drives for diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough last year as a rise in conflicts across the globe hindered the supply of life-saving shots mostly in strife-torn regions, the United Nations said on Monday. About 14.5 million children failed to get vaccinated in 2023, compared with 13.9 million a year earlier, according to U.N. estimates. The number, however, was lower than during the COVID-19 pandemic, when about 18 million children missed out on vaccination.

Oklahoma has become the 13th U.S. state to detect bird flu in dairy cows, the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed on Monday, though the state said the infection happened months ago. The confirmation shows the outbreak was more widespread than U.S. authorities knew after the virus was first found in dairy cattle in late March. Bird flu has since been detected in more than 150 dairy herds nationwide.

Democratic U.S. Senate aides will meet with Novo Nordisk executives on Tuesday to discuss fallout from its decision to stop selling one of its long-acting insulins in the country, two sources familiar with the meeting told Reuters. Novo Nordisk will meet with the aides for Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Raphael Warnock, and Elizabeth Warren. In April, the lawmakers wrote to the company expressing alarm at its decision, announced in November, that it would permanently discontinue Levemir by the end of 2024.

Gambia's parliament on Monday rejected a bill that would have ended a ban on female genital mutilation, after lawmakers voted down all the clauses in the proposed law. "The ban on FGM is still firmly maintained in the Gambia," the Ministry of Information said in a statement after the vote. "Government stands firm in its resolve to eliminate this harmful practice."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has deployed a nine-member field team to Colorado to help the state manage a bird flu outbreak in humans and poultry. Colorado confirmed four infections and a suspected fifth case on Sunday.

Federal and state investigators in Colorado are investigating an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu on a poultry farm that has resulted in four confirmed human cases and a suspected case. The infections are the first reported cases in poultry workers in the United States since 2022. They follow an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in U.S. dairy cattle that has infected an additional four farm workers since March.

(With inputs from agencies.)