Linksbridge SPC

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights AU Summit brings R&D, local manufacturing, and other pledges The African Union Summit in Addis Ababa last weekend saw the launch of a multipartner vaccine R&D initiative and more. ACHIEVE: Zambian Pre...

Whether you care about access to medicines, pandemic preparedness, clinical trial results for global health products, shake-ups at major agencies and pharma companies, or African manufacturing, this week's issue has something for everyone.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights U.S.

The U.S. FDA has refused to review the company's mRNA-based flu shot—with the notable twist of CBER chief Vinay Prasad personally signing off on the decision—while Mexico is moving to expand access to Moderna's mRNA vaccine portfolio.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights | Linksbridge Access to health products was a key theme in this week's highlights. Samsung Biologics and CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations) are teaming up to accelerate equitable access to prote...

Access to health products was a key theme in this week's highlights. Samsung Biologics and CEPI are teaming up to accelerate equitable access to protein-based vaccines, BioNTech scored $25 million to develop its mRNA-based HIV vaccine for people in LMICs, and more.
www.linkedin.com/posts/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights U.S.

U.S. officials are trying to strongarm Gavi into removing vaccines from its portfolio that contain thimerosal, despite longstanding scientific consensus on the preservative's safety.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights USAID-backed HIV vaccine trial resurrected An African-led HIV vaccine trial that saw its USAID funding yanked away last year has been brought back from the brink of collapse and will start administeri...

After losing its USAID funding just days before it was set to launch an African-led HIV vaccine trial, the BRILLIANT Consortium has secured alternative financial support and will begin dosing in a scaled-down trial next week.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights SII exits chikungunya deal, enters Rift Valley agreement Serum Institute of India has exited one CEPI-backed vaccine production deal but joined another. On the last day of 2025, SII and Valneva said t...

CEPI is working with Valneva to find a new manufacturing partner in Asia for its chikungunya vaccine after the French pharma and Serum Institute of India scrapped their licensing deal for the shot.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights Moderna scores CEPI lifeline for pandemic flu shot More than six months after the U.S.

Our first issue of 2026 covers a wide range of vaccine-related updates. CEPI has awarded Moderna a $54 million lifeline for its pandemic flu shot, WHO published a report that paints a picture of the current global vaccine ecosystem, and more.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights Gonorrhea ‘turning point’: FDA OKs two new antibiotics Amid rising antibiotic resistance and a treatment landscape that hasn’t changed for decades, the U.S.

As big pharma walked away from antibiotic development, small resource-constrained biotechs have stepped up—but high costs have stalled progress. This week, we explore how a public-private partnership broke the gonorrhea antibiotic deadlock.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights CEPI-backed vaccines advance Oxford University has launched the world’s first Phase 2 clinical trial of a Nipah virus vaccine, CEPI announced Monday. The university will evaluate the ChAdOx1 NipahB ca...

While vaccine R&D plows forward, the financial and political foundations of global immunization continue to wobble.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights With dengue approval, Brazil expands vaccine leadership Brazilian approval last week of the world’s first single-dose dengue vaccine—the Butantan Institute’s Butantan-DV—represented a “historic achiev...

Brazil's vaccine leadership is gaining momentum. The country recently approved the world's first single-dose dengue vaccine, inked international supply and tech transfer deals, and is eyeing a stronger role in PAHO Revolving Funds.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Image of an Incepta R&D facility.

WHO prequalification of Incepta Pharmaceuticals's generic version of the Sayana Press, a 3-month injectable contraceptive that can be self-administered, potentially gives millions more people access to a discreet, convenient, affordable option: linksbridge-8615684.hs-sites-na2.com/this-weeks-r...

Stakeholder meeting report: Chikungunya virus – recent outbreaks, vaccine development and the way forward The International Vaccine Institute and Gorgas Institute (Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies) organized the first Chikungunya Global Meeting…

🚨 New publication alert!

At the first Chikungunya Global Meeting in Panama City, stakeholders reviewed insights from recent outbreaks and discussed research priorities. Linksbridge's Katelyn Dinkel presented our chikungunya vaccine demand forecasting work and is an author of the meeting report:

Reports identify weakness in global pipeline for new antibiotics, diagnostics

The WHO says the pipeline for new antibiotics faces a "dual crisis" of scarcity and lack of innovation and that low-resource settings need simpler and faster diagnostic tests.

www.cidrap.umn.edu/a...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights Ghana ups wager on local vaccines Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama has committed $50 million to “fast-track” the country’s vaccine production. The funds will support Ghana’s National Vaccine Ins...

This week's issue has something for everyone: news about African vaccine manufacturing, updates on lenacapavir access, a look at MNCs' retreat from U.K. investments, results from a malaria vaccine clinical trial, and more.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights PEPFAR recommits to lenacapavir access After threats to dismantle PEPFAR cast doubt over an access deal for Gilead’s lenacapavir PrEP drug, the U.S.

A Phase 3 trial has shown that the Zabdeno/Mvabea Ebola vaccine regimen induced antibody responses in pregnant women and their infants.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights Bedaquiline price cut pushes BPaLM under $300 Indian generics manufacturer Lupin has slashed the price of its tuberculosis drug bedaquiline by 30%, bringing the cost of a six-month course of the WHO-r...

This week's issue spotlights an impact analysis from our friends at MedAccess. The numbers are impressive: the nonprofit has reached 559 million people to date with vaccines, diagnostics and other health technologies supported by its agreements. www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights ‘Danger to health’: U.S.

In an about-face, the U.S. FDA has suspended Valneva’s chikungunya vaccine just weeks after lifting an earlier pause on use of the jab. More on this development and other pharma news important to global health in this week's issue.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights Phase 1 findings fuel nOPV trials in children Results from a first-in-human study of novel type 1 and type 3 oral poliovirus vaccines (nOPV1 and nOPV3, respectively) in adults are bolstering the case ...

Efforts to advance next-generation oral vaccines against polio type 1 and 3 got a boost this week with new Phase 1 trial data showing that the candidates performed similarly to their monovalent Sabin-strain comparators.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights WHO PQs first spatial emanators for vector control As insecticide resistance grows and shifting mosquito behavior threatens the effectiveness of long-standing vector control tools, WHO has prequalifie...

WHO has endorsed a new lifesaving tool in the fight against malaria. Two spatial emanator products from SC Johnson notched WHO prequalification this week, ushering in a new class of intervention for malaria vector control.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights BARDA abandons mRNA vaccine R&D In a move decried by public health leaders as shortsighted and baseless, the U.S.

BARDA is culling funding for mRNA vaccine R&D—a move public health officials say will hobble the country's capacity to combat the next pandemic. More on this development and other pharma news important to global health in this week's highlights.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights Non-invasive test detects infant meningitis An ultrasound-based test detected meningitis in neonates and infants with 94% accuracy, offering a potential non-invasive alternative to the traditional lumbar puncture diagnostic method, according to results of an international study published last week i

Lumbar puncture—an invasive technique with significant practical limitations—is the gold standard for diagnosing meningitis. Now, a non-invasive test may be on the horizon.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights Funding cuts loom over AIDS Society Conference Against the backdrop of a collapsed U.S.

The early days of this week's International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2025) highlighted potentially epidemic-ending interventions and an urgent need for a reimagined funding landscape.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights First malaria drug approved for newborns Novartis’ infant-friendly version of antimalarial Coartem has scored the first approval for a malaria drug for babies weighing less than 4.5 kilograms.

Efforts to boost access to lifesaving medicines made strides this week: Novartis pledged to offer its infant-friendly antimalarial at a not-for-profit basis in malaria-endemic areas and Gilead finalized a deal with the Global Fund for its HIV PrEP drug.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights Gavi nabs price pledges from GSK, Merck, SII Manufacturer commitments at Gavi’s replenishment summit last week could save Gavi-supported programs up to $200 million by 2030, according to a press relea...

Gavi's recent replenishment summit scored big: vaccine makers made pledges that could unlock up to $200 million in savings for Gavi-supported programs. This week's issue unpacks these commitments and other pharma news important to global health.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

A Gilead researcher holds up a vial in an image provided by Gilead's PR apparatus.

With US FDA approval of a twice-yearly shot that prevents HIV, global health actors are mobilizing to secure access. This week's issue reviews Gilead's promises and stakeholders' doubts: linksbridge-8615684.hs-sites.com/this-weeks-r...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights Merck’s single-dose dengue jab enters Phase 3 Merck last week launched a Phase 3 trial of V181, its live attenuated quadrivalent vaccine candidate to prevent dengue disease regardless of prior dengue ...

This week's issue covers a flurry of vaccine development news. Among the highlights: Merck moved its dengue jab to Phase 3, GSK licensed its Shigella candidate to Bharat Biotech, and Micron Biomedical launched a trial of microarray-delivered rotavirus vaccine.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights Tanzania plans local ARV production Amid a continuing crisis in global health funding, Tanzania has unveiled plans to manufacture HIV antiretrovirals (ARVs) and other essential medicines by bringing n...

Amid dwindling global health funding and tightening national budgets, Tanzania is making a strategic push toward pharmaceutical independence. This week's issue covers the country's plans to domestically manufacture HIV antiretrovirals and other essential medicines.

www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Amid significant funding cuts, global health stakeholders must find ways to do more with less.

That's one takeaway Linksbridge's KJ Zunigha heard in Geneva during the 78th World Health Assembly: www.linksbridge.com/resources/wh...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights U.S.

The search for an elusive HIV vaccine was dealt a major blow this week when the U.S. government notified the Consortia for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development that it would pull the plug on a yearslong investment into the group's vaccine R&D efforts.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...

Linksbridge Pharma: this week's highlights GSK-licensed UTI antibiotic succeeds in Phase 3 GSK’s $66 million gamble on Spero Therapeutics’ tebipenem antibiotic appears to be paying off: the companies announced Wednesday that a Phase 3 trial ev...

In this week's issue, we explore funding for new and urgently needed gonorrhea treatments and the U.K.'s planned launch of a landmark vaccination campaign against the disease.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/linksb...