After political leaders across the globe made patents and other intellectual property safeguards the scapegoat for disparities in access to COVID-19 vaccines, the biopharma industry is sharing its vision for how to deal with the foundational issues of equitable access in pandemics to come – and it has nothing to do with IP waivers like the one World Trade Organization members adopted last month.

South Korea’s Medipost Co. Ltd. is gearing up for phase III trials in the U.S. of its stem cell therapy, Cartistem, an allogeneic human umbilical cord blood-derived mesenchymal stem cell therapy for treatment of knee articular damage in patients with osteoarthritis.

Frontera Therapeutics Inc. raised $160 million in a series B funding round to develop its lead gene therapy product candidate for retinal disease, FT-001, for which INDs have been approved by the U.S. FDA and China NMPA.

Amid the ongoing war Russia is waging in Ukraine, representatives of several Western biopharma and medical device companies met with Russian health officials this week to discuss an uninterrupted drug supply, maintenance of medical equipment in Russia and software updates. Russian Minister of Health Mikhail Murashko told the group his agency’s top priority is an uninterrupted drug supply. He recognized that dialogue between the government and manufacturers is necessary to maintain that supply.

Qiming Venture Partners has closed funds worth a total $3.2 billion for health care-related investments, with funds spread across the five areas of biopharmaceuticals, med tech, diagnostics, health care services and IT.