Daily Digest — October 26, 2026
Gadis was cut out of a boar snare in Kalimantan. Her baby was still on her. A lung-cancer pill beat the pills already in clinic.
Good morning. Here's what's going right.
🌟 Today's Lead
The Ropes
Early Friday in Kandan Village, Central Kalimantan, rescuers found an orangutan named Gadis with rope in both arms and a baby still holding on. The snare looked like one set for a wild boar. Garis is nine months in one account and ten in another. They are at a clinic near Pangkalan Bun. About 120,000 orangutans remain in Borneo and Sumatra. That number is not this rescue.
In Brief
💊 The Pill That Beat the Pills
Divarasib was tested against sotorasib or adagrasib, not against chemotherapy, in 338 people with previously treated KRAS G12C lung cancer. Median survival was 17.7 months versus 12.0. The hazard ratio for death was 0.56. It is in the New England Journal of Medicine. It is not an approval, and it was not a first prescription.
💉 The Price on the Vial
UNICEF and Gavi cut the RTS,S malaria vaccine by about 40 percent, to 5.50 euros a dose. The saving is about 50 million dollars from 2027 through 2029, and it could cover up to one million more children if countries spend it that way. The price starts in early 2027, if a new factory is prequalified.
🚪 The Door
In a Hull lab, synthetic rubber tape cut flood leakage through a door by 99 percent. Duct tape managed 97 to 98 percent. Fifty-four sandbags, at their best, managed 70. The water stopped at 600 millimetres. A river is a different test.
📊 Progress by Numbers
- Gadis, about 25, found 23 October with rope in both arms. Garis is 9 months or 10, depending on the desk.
- 17.7 months versus 12.0. Median survival on divarasib against the KRAS pills already approved. Not an approval.
- 5.50 euros a dose, from early 2027, if a factory clears. About 40 percent off the malaria vaccine.
- 99 percent less leakage with synthetic rubber tape than an unprotected door. Sandbags: 70 percent, in the same lab, to 600 millimetres.
- 41 percent versus 3 percent raised their haemoglobin on mitapivat. Pain crises did not fall enough to count.
- 1.4 billion dollars in Illinois medical debt erased for more than 694,000 people. No form. A letter. The two averages do not match.
Also worth your time
Mitapivat, a twice-daily pill, raised haemoglobin by at least a gram in 41 percent of people with sickle cell disease, against 3 percent on placebo. The annualised pain-crisis rate was 2.6 versus 3.1, and that difference was not significant.
Illinois says it spent under 10 million dollars to erase more than 1.4 billion dollars in medical debt. People do not apply. A letter arrives. The governor's office says the average is over 1,200 dollars. A later remark said nearly 1,600. Old collection debt is not a cap on the next bill.
📻 On Today's Episode
Bright Side Daily for 26 October. Rory and Elizabeth. Ropes in an arm, a baby who had not let go, a pill that beat the pills already on the shelf, a malaria price that starts in 2027, and a door in Hull. The cards are a blood count and a letter.
Stories and sources: thebrightside.news
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