Juta MedicalBrief

The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority is reviewing 12 applications for generic versions of semaglutide, with an Indian pharma giant being the first to get the greenlight to sell a cheaper version of the drug in the country. Novo Nordisk’s patent on semaglutide, used in diabetes drug Ozempic and weight-loss treatment Wegovy, expired in March in South Africa, allowing drugmakers to flood the market, reports News24. Last week, India’s Sun Pharmaceutical Industries became the first company to receive the green light from SAHPRA to manufacture and sell a generic version in South Africa: it’s hoped more generic application approvals could mean lower-cost...

Medscheme has withdrawn its legal application against Bonitas Medical Fund, clearing the way for the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS) to carry out its forensic investigation into allegations of improper procurement and conflicts of interest, reports Daily Maverick. The legal action followed Medscheme’s claims to have evidence of impropriety during tender processes involving the administration and managed care of Bonitas’ lower-cost BonCap option, as well as the scheme’s marketing and sales distribution contract. According to its allegations, which have not been tested in court, contracts had been given to entities lacking the required experience, capacity and compliance credentials. No finding of wrongdoing has been...

Health Minister Dr Aaron Motsoaledi has welcomed the final court order for the National Prosecuting Authority to permanently seize assets worth R325m linked to businessman Hangwani Morgan Maumela, reports SA News. The Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) gave the go-ahead this week for the NPA to attach luxury homes and exotic cars – valued at an eye-watering R327m – belonging to Maumela, who has been implicated as a kingpin in the Tembisa Hospital looting scandal, but who has yet to be formally arrested and charged. The assets include top-end properties in Gauteng, KZN and the Western Cape, while the vehicles include a...

Despite the staggering statistics of more than 100 break-ins, burglaries and robberies at Eastern Cape health facilities last year – resulting in damages of R1.5m – it will be at least another three years before security is completely upgraded, reports the Cape Times. The cost of the robberies, closely linked to vandalism, in the previous financial year was condemned by provincial Health MEC Ntandokazi Capa when she announced a R76m security upgrade at the Livingstone Hospital and Provincial Hospital Complex in Gqeberha. The three-year project will include the construction and rehabilitation of secure boundary walls and high-security fencing, the installation of...

Healthcare workers and humanitarian organisations warn that South Africa’s anti-migrant campaign – and the disruption of their access to healthcare and any interrupted chronic health treatment – poses huge risks to broader public health as well, reports Health-e News. The alert follows the 30 June deadline set by anti-migrant groups for undocumented migrants to leave South Africa, the subsequent exodus of foreigners from this country, and the fears of non-South Africans still living in the country. Humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said its teams are seeing nationwide patterns of patients being turned away from healthcare services or being too afraid...

Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has dismissed the suggestion of any irregularities during the recent awarding of the country’s R15bn antiretroviral tender, reports the Cape Argus. A comprehensive due diligence and evaluation process had been applied, he said, which was in line with procurement prescripts, including the Public Finance Management Act, the Preferential Procurement Framework Act, the Special Requirements and Conditions of Contract and the bid specifications issued for the tender. Motsoaledi was responding to parliamentary questions from EFF MP Naledi Chirwa-Mpungose, who had highlighted public concern regarding alleged discrepancies, irregularities and possible procurement failures surrounding the tender process. He said pharmaceutical tenders...

Urology specialists and trainees from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) helped treat 74 patients during a five-day surgical marathon aimed at reducing elective surgery waiting lists in the public healthcare system recently, reports Inside Education. Between 6 and 10 July, they helped patients at Victoria Mxenge-St Aidan’s Hospital Tertiary Complex in Durban and Ngwelezana Provincial Tertiary Hospital in Empangeni as part of the KZN leg of the 2026 African Synergy Health Mandela Week Surgical Marathon. The 74 patients represented more than a third of the national campaign’s aspirational target of treating at least 200 patients by the end of Mandela Month. Staff...

A new daily pill – which slashes cholesterol levels far below what can be achieved with statins, according to clinical trials, and which is also affordable – has been approved by the US Food & Drug Administration and will be available soon, reports The New York Times. The drug from Merck is much more effective at lowering cholesterol levels than statins, the cheap cholesterol-reducing pills, the company says.
In clinical trials, it (brand name Lipfendra) showed it can cut levels of LDL – the dangerous cholesterol – to 50 or 60 or even lower. Adults not taking cholesterol-lowering drugs usually have levels...

A British coroner court ruled last week that England 1966 World Cup winner Nobby Stiles died from a brain condition caused by repeatedly heading a football, confirming the potential health risks increasingly becoming associated with ball sports, reports IOL. The landmark ruling also prompted the coroner to issue a formal Prevention of Future Deaths report regarding heading in schools and football. Stiles, a former Manchester United midfielder, who died almost six years ago aged 78 with severe dementia, had headed a football around 140 000 times during his career, Stockport Coroner's Court in England heard at the inquest into his death. Expert...

The Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak, announced just two months ago, has already infected more than 2 120 people and caused about 900 deaths – and continues to outpace response, reports Health Policy Watch. At a media briefing last week, World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanon Ghebreyesus said that intense transmission in Ituri province was the biggest worry. “More than 80% of new cases are being detected outside known contact lists, showing that transmission chains are still being missed,” he said. “About two-thirds of deaths are in communities among people who never receive care in a...

More than 6 100 babies died within the neonatal period in Zimbabwe last year – most from birth asphyxia – while 563 women lost their lives from pregnancy and childbirth-related complications, reports Nehanda Radio. The dismal statistics have prompted renewed scrutiny of emergency obstetric care, referral systems, staffing shortages and the affordability of life-saving maternal health services. The Zimbabwean Government has constantly been criticised for failing to prioritise its healthcare system, allocating a heftier chuck of its annual spend to the security sector rather than Health. The figures presented in Parliament by Health and Child Care Minister Douglas Mombeshora showed that out...

A pharmacy owner and his technician were sentenced last week to hefty fines and imprisonment for fraudulent medical claims, and after admitting that they had “plied doctors with trips to strip clubs and night clubs and cash to keep them as corrupt as possible”, according to the US Justice Department. They also have to pay back the money. In court documents, owner of the business Kirtan Patel (34) of New Jersey, originally from India, admitted to submitting falsified documents to a health insurance company in response to an audit. The documents falsely claimed that medical providers had authorised certain prescriptions...

Despite Pfizer and Moderna having resolved and tied off certain threads in their separate webs of mRNA patent litigation, they now face more legal hurdles, with Sanofi having opened a new front to challenge the companies’ blockbuster Covid-19 vaccines, reports Fierce Pharma. In separate complaints filed in the New Jersey District Court last week, Sanofi lawyers took aim at the lipid nanoparticle (LNP) tech undergirding the delivery of mRNA in Pfizer’s Covid-19 shot Comirnaty, plus two versions of Moderna’s mRNA coronavirus prophylactic – Spikevax and mNexpsike – and its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine mResvia. Sanofi’s legal team specifically argues that Pfizer’s...

A four-month-old baby girl in Australia is struggling to breathe as she battles a rare genetic disorder that has caused her tongue to grow to a dangerous size, reports Daily Mail. Born in April, Lulu, from New South Wales, has been diagnosed with Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome (BWS), a rare condition that causes abnormal growth in various parts of the body. In Lulu’s case, the syndrome has resulted in severe macroglossia – an enlarged tongue so pronounced it interferes with her breathing, feeding and sleep. Doctors are considering bringing forward tongue reduction surgery to help Lulu breathe and feed more easily, while additional...

Despite the critical staff shortages in the public healthcare system, at least 1 400 qualified doctors are still unemployed, according to the South African Medical Association Trade Union, which is urging the government to find posts for them, reports EWN. Samatu general secretary Dr Cedric Sihlangu said delays in employing local doctors was adding even more pressure to state facilities. “The country needs more doctors, and this issue of their unemployment – and healthcare workers, by and large – is unwarranted,” he said. “The government has been very sluggish in its efforts to deal with thie problem.” Sihlangu rejected claims that budget...

Dis-Chem’s Saul Saltzman, son of founders Ivan and Lynette Saltzman, has resigned as a non-executive from the company’s board – after initially resigning as an executive director in February 2026, after 19 years in that role, reports BusinessTech. Ivan is still serving on the JSE-retailer’s board since his resignation as an executive director, having stepped down as CEO in 2023, with then-CFO Rui Morias taking over, while his wife Lynette also stepped down as executive director in 2022 to focus on an operational role within the retailer’s beauty category. In June last year, the founders’ other sons, Dan and Mark Saltzman,...

Only a small number of South Africans battling with common mental health conditions like depression and anxiety actually receive professional treatment, but the South African College of Applied Psychology (SACAP) hopes a new postgraduate qualification will now help close the gap, reports TimesLIVE. The institution recently launched its postgraduate diploma in psychological counselling, which will replace its BSocSci (Hons) in psychology (BPsych Equivalent) as the qualification that prepares students to become registered counsellors. A national study has suggested that just 16% of South African adults with mental disorders receive any formal treatment. SACAP said registered counsellors play an important role in providing...

The US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) is being sued by a group comprising public health organisations, paediatricians and parents, who are challenging its new policy permitting some manufacturers to sell vapes and nicotine without the legally required licence, reports Reuters. The lawsuit targets FDA guidance issued in May which stated that the agency would not prioritise enforcement against certain unauthorised e-cigarettes and nicotine pouch products if the companies have marketing applications under review. The plaintiffs include the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the American Academy of Paediatrics, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association,...

Lawyers have taken up the cudgels in the case of a young Limpopo mother who says doctors removed her womb during childbirth without her knowledge or consent, leaving her in pain and struggling to come to terms with what happened, reports Health-e News. Dimakatso Madimabe* (20) says she was eight months pregnant when she went for a routine check-up at Bothashoek Clinic on 14 August 2024. Nurses became concerned about her high blood pressure and referred her to Dilokong Hospital, which then classified her as high risk and transferred her to St Rita’s District Regional Hospital in Glen Cowie, about 120km...

A US doctor is accused of injecting rubbing alcohol instead of pain blockers into a woman’s toes before removing her toenails, causing severe and permanent injuries, including tissue necrosis, according to a $13m lawsuit filed last week. WUSA9 reports that Sarah Blackman, from Washington, went to Dr Colin Mizuo on 29 January to have two ingrown toenails removed, one on each foot, at Kaiser Permanente Westside Medical Centre in Oregon. This procedure typically requires an injection of lidocaine or a similar anaesthetic. However, Mizuo reportedly injected 4ml of rubbing alcohol into each of her toes, then pulled off her toenails with...