In today’s Markets Daily #India, we look at the meltdown in IT shares, the rally in shares of oil explorers, and trends in the mutual fund industry.

South African lab to produce new #HIV treatment in #Africa: Unitaid.

NAIROBI, Kenya - A South African laboratory will produce a generic version of a new HIV treatment, in a major step forward for medical sovereignty in Africa, the international health agency Unitaid said on Tuesday.

Lenacapavir, developed by the US pharmaceutical company Gilead, is an injectable HIV treatment that only needs to be administered twice a year.

According to experts, that represents a huge advance compared with treatments that require taking a tablet every day, especially for women, who can be stigmatised.

Studies show that lenacapavir reduces the risk of HIV transmission by 99.9 percent.

“Together with Gilead, we have an agreement with the government of South Africa for this drug to be produced in South Africa as soon as possible,” Unitaid executive director Philippe Duneton said.

Unitaid works to fight diseases in poor countries at lower cost.

Duneton, speaking at a Franco-African economic summit in Nairobi, called the move “a very important step” as investment in regional production of medicines in Africa was “absolutely essential.”

The issue came to the fore during the coronavirus pandemic, when developed countries largely kept vaccine doses for themselves.

Duneton told AFP that a “preliminary agreement” with Gilead will be finalised once South African laboratories have been identified to manufacture a generic version of lenacapavir.

A call for tenders has already been launched.

“I have every confidence in what is going to happen. It takes months of discussions. We have been talking for years,” he told AFP.

Once the South African laboratory has been chosen, Unitaid hopes that actual production will take “one to two years,” he added.

“When there are tensions, competition or disruptions in supply chains, it’s better to have medicines produced close to home.

“That holds true everywhere, in Europe as well as in Africa.”

Musk, Cook and other prominent U.S. executives invited to join Trump on trip to China

The United Nations human rights chief warned on Monday that widening and intensifying violence in #Sudan, as well as the rising use of drones, could lead to more death and displacement.

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) said on Monday that Konstantin Makrelov had been appointed as its new chief #economist, replacing Christopher Loewald who took early retirement in March.

#Nintendo’s shares plunged the most in three months after the company forecast hardware and software sales declines, a sign that the Switch 2 has yet to create a self-sustaining demand cycle

#Senegalese lawmakers voted for an electoral code amendment that is widely seen as clearing the way for Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko to run in the next presidential election.

Four men were convicted in Miami for their roles in the 2021 assassination of #Haitian President Jovenel Moïse that further destabilized the government and led to years of violence in the country

President #Ruto allies accuse Uhuru of financing opposition ahead of 2027 polls

#Kenya : I’m not sick, I’m not abducted': Oburu addresses public concern over absence