Health News Roundup: US official optimistic Ebola outbreak can be controlled; Roche takes on Loxo, Bayer

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

U.S. official optimistic Congo Ebola outbreak can be controlled

The leading Ebola expert at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday he believed an outbreak in Congo can be brought under control quickly and that the high rate of new cases is due largely to improved detection. The haemorrhagic fever's outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is believed to have killed 144 people since July and infected another 79, and the rate of new cases has accelerated sharply in recent weeks.

Sanofi drug Dupixent wins FDA approval to treat asthma

France's Sanofi SA said on Friday eczema drug Dupixent was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as an additional maintenance therapy in patients with two types of asthma. Dupixent, co-developed with U.S.-based Regeneron, received approval to treat patients with eosinophilic asthma and those dependent on anti-inflammatory steroids.

Hispanic heart disease deaths highest in mostly-Latino communities

Hispanics in the U.S. have lower rates of death from heart disease overall than non-Hispanic whites, except in communities where Hispanics make up most of the population, a recent study finds. Overall, counties with higher Hispanic populations also face more economic disadvantages, a lack of access to quality health care, and language barriers, researchers report in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

Roche scores win in slowing aggressive type of breast cancer

An immunotherapy cocktail from Roche helped slow an aggressive type of breast cancer where new treatments have proven elusive, offering positive news for the Swiss drugmaker as it chases medicines produced by its rivals. Trial data released on Saturday shed light on the treatment of triple-negative tumours, which affect 15 per cent of breast cancer patients, typically affecting younger-than-average women.

Roche takes on Loxo, Bayer in gene-defined cancer class

Roche's entrectinib cancer pill was shown to shrink tumours in 57 per cent of patients within a group that can only be identified via genetic profiling, as the Swiss drugmaker challenges an alliance of Bayer and Loxo Oncology in a newly targeted treatment area. The trial results on patients with a gene anomaly known as NTRK fusion, which occurs in less than 1 per cent across a range of tumour types, were presented at the annual congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) in Munich on Sunday.

Elite athletes not at higher risk of birth complications

Elite female athletes have no greater risk of childbirth complications than women who don't exercise, a small study suggests. Doctors generally encourage women to stay active during pregnancy as long as they are healthy and able to exercise. But whether intense workouts are safe for women who participate in sports at elite or competitive levels has not been clear, researchers note in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Novartis drug cut death risk by 35 per cent in gene mutation breast cancer

An experimental cancer drug that Novartis hopes will raise the profile of its oncology portfolio to cut the risk of death or disease progression by more than a third in breast cancer patients with a hard-to-target gene mutation. The Swiss drugmaker's BYL719, a so-called PI3K inhibitor also known as alpelisib, combined with hormone therapy fulvestrant boosted median progression-free survival (PFS) to 11 months, up from 5.7 months for patients who got only hormone therapy, the company said on Saturday.

(With inputs from agencies.)