The industry’s retreat from the UK reflects a deeper shift about how Beijing is rewriting the rules of innovation When Merck abruptly scrapped its billion-pound London research hub last week, critics blamed Britain’s lacklustre support for life sciences and a Scrooge-like grip on NHS drug prices. But one important factor may have been missed. That Merck, which is also cutting jobs elsewhere – 6,000 globally – is recalibrating not just in response to the UK or the US, but to China. Merck’s cash cow is pembrolizumab (brand name Keytruda), an…
Tag: Health
Brainless bodies and pig organs: does science back up Putin and Xi’s longevity claims?
Perhaps it was the extravagant display of deadly weaponry that prompted Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin to mull on mortality at this week’s military parade in Beijing. It was more banter than serious discussion, but with both aged 72, the Chinese president and his Russian counterpart may feel the cold hand on the shoulder more than Kim Jong-un, the 41-year-old North Korean leader who strolled beside them. Speaking through a interpreter, Xi told Putin that 70 is considered young today, prompting Putin to claim that human organs can now be…
Healthy living, science and an army of doctors: Putin’s pursuit of longevity
It was the stuff of Bond villains. Two ageing autocrats, their younger ally in tow, ambled down a red-carpeted ramp before a military parade in Beijing when a hot mic picked up a question that seemed to be on their minds: how long could they keep going – and, between the lines, might science allow them to rule for ever? With advances in technology, Russia’s Vladimir Putin assured Xi Jinping via his translator that “human organs can be constantly transplanted, to the extent that people can get younger, perhaps even…
Alarm in China that efforts to control Chikungunya virus are infringing on rights
There is growing alarm in China that official efforts to control the spread of Chikungunya virus, a non-fatal mosquito-borne disease that has been spreading in the south of the country, are infringing on people’s personal rights. A single mother living in Zhanjiang, a port city in Guangdong province, posted a video on social media this week showing a group of people, including a uniformed police officer, entering her children’s bedroom in the middle of the night and taking blood samples from the boy and the girl, without their mother’s presence…
Australia politics live: Australia joins 24 countries to demand immediate end to Gaza war
<gu-island name="KeyEventsCarousel" priority="feature" deferuntil="visible" props="{"keyEvents":[{"id":"687e2ff98f083f75bfb4ebef","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" The ABC 7.30 program host, Sarah Ferguson, pressed Albanese on what he would say if the US president, Donald Trump, where to question him on Australia’s response if China were to attack Taiwan. ","elementId":"b2b6b68a-e4cf-4abc-ab49-d00d32440943"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" The questions has emerged as part of Washington’s review of the Aukus pact and the request about Australia’s thinking is understood to have been made by an under secretary of defence, Elbridge Colby. ","elementId":"2aff9adf-b338-460c-9d2e-06612d04ae82"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" Ferguson asked what Albanese would say if he was pressed on that question. The PM replied: ","elementId":"348c37ed-f611-4f65-b701-5ae0be42beb5"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.BlockquoteBlockElement","html":"…
Australia politics live: China’s foreign minister to arrive in Canberra amid calls for Penny Wong to demand release of Yang Hengjun
From 44m ago Press China to release Yang Hengjun, rights group say Daniel Hurst Human rights groups have urged the Australian government to demand the immediate release of Australian writer Dr Yang Hengjun and press other human rights issues strongly during meetings with China’s top diplomat today. The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, will hold talks with her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in Canberra today, with trade, regional security and human rights among the topics expected to be raised. Amnesty International has written to Wong saying it “joins Uyghur, Tibetan,…
BoM forecasts category three storm – as it happened
<gu-island name="KeyEventsCarousel" priority="feature" deferuntil="visible" props="{"keyEvents":[{"id":"65a9f5d48f0819b86aad88ab","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" Senior Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Felim Hanniffy has given an update on the cyclone building off the coast of Queensland. ","elementId":"368c5292-28dd-4f7f-af06-a1cc1ca01ac2"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" Hanniffy said the storm is expected to intensify into a “serious tropical cyclone”, of at least category three. It could cross the Queensland coast at that size, he said. ","elementId":"9a886f07-0445-4d68-9ffa-6dca678520cf"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" “The atmosphere is certainly conducive for significant tropical cyclone development in the Coral Sea,” he said. ","elementId":"cf6d6b33-ce95-4cce-8df7-88163007b973"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" “I think the bottom line is for next week there’s a high chance of tropical cyclone development…
Teenagers with more siblings have worse mental health, study suggests
From Cain and Abel and the Brothers Karamazov to Cinderella, the warmth and support provided by siblings has hardly been taken for granted. Now, researchers have found that children who moan about their brothers and sisters may have good reason to complain: the more siblings teenagers have, the more it hits their happiness, they claim. A study of secondary schoolchildren in the US and China found that those from larger families had slightly poorer mental health than those from smaller families. The greatest impact was seen in families with multiple…
AstraZeneca buys Chinese cancer therapy firm Gracell for $1.2bn
AstraZeneca has struck a deal to buy a Chinese cancer therapy company for up to $1.2bn (£950m), as Britain’s biggest drugmaker expands its footprint in its second-largest market. The Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical firm announced on Tuesday it would acquire Gracell Biotechnologies, which is focused on a type of cancer therapy known as CAR-T that modifies a patient’s cells to fight the disease. The deal marks a further investment in cancer research and treatment, which accounts for about one-third of AstraZeneca’s business, as well as its continued push to expand in China.…
Respiratory infection clusters in China not caused by novel virus, says health ministry
A surge in respiratory illnesses across China that has drawn the attention of the World Health Organization is caused by the flu and other known pathogens and not by a novel virus, the country’s health ministry said on Sunday. Recent clusters of respiratory infections are caused by an overlap of common viruses such as the influenza virus, rhinoviruses, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and adenovirus, as well as bacteria such as mycoplasma pneumoniae, which is a common culprit for respiratory tract infections, a National Health Commission spokesperson said. The ministry called…