Health News Roundup: J&J talc unit asks judge to halt cancer lawsuits as it pursues $8.9 billion settlement; Maker of generic abortion pill sues to keep drug on the market and more

Unite said its 750 members voted to go on strike, having turned down the company's "significantly below inflation rate pay offer" of a 6% increase and a one-off lump sum of 1,300 pounds ($1,615). US Supreme Court extends block on abortion pill curbs until Friday U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Wednesday extended by two days a temporary block on limits set by lower courts on access to the abortion pill mifepristone in a challenge by anti-abortion groups to the drug's federal regulatory approval.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Abbott signals recovery in device sales as hospital staff shortages ease

Abbott Laboratories said on Wednesday most delayed non-urgent medical procedures had resumed globally three years into the COVID-19 pandemic as hospital staff shortages eased and customers became regular with check-ups, sending shares up 7%. The much-awaited recovery in elective surgeries led the company to effectively raise forecast for its core business, even as COVID testing-related sales were seen falling sharply.

India's top pregnancy test kit maker Mankind eyes biggest IPO so far this year

Indian pharmaceutical company Mankind Pharma Ltd is seeking a valuation of 432.64 billion rupees ($5.27 billion) at the upper end of a price band it set for its initial public offering (IPO) on Wednesday, making it the largest domestic stock launch so far this year. The company, which makes at-home pregnancy testing kit Prega News which have an 80% market share in the country, as well as Manforce condoms, set the price band at 1,026 rupees to 1,080 rupees per share.

Elevance's upbeat profit forecast overshadowed by 2024 growth fears

Elevance Health Inc's forecast raise and strong quarterly profit on Wednesday failed to ease investor concerns over regulatory hits to the company's government-backed insurance business, sending its shares down over 4%. Elevance's medical costs in the first quarter beat analysts' expectations, mainly due to a delay in paying out claims, but were in-line with estimates after discounting the delay, analysts said.

'Past catastrophic': Sudan fighting shutters Khartoum's hospitals

The few hospitals still operating in Khartoum after Sudan's sudden explosion into war have bodies lying unburied, bullets crashing through windows and terrified medics staying away as artillery pounds nearby. Doctors and hospital staff describe harrowing conditions with no water for cleaning, little electricity for life-saving equipment and food running out, forcing them to send sick patients home and turn away the injured.

UK's GSK workers to strike in May over pay - union

Hundreds of GSK workers have voted to stage a series of walkouts at UK manufacturing sites in May over a dispute over pay, in what could be a first at the British drugmaker, labour union Unite said on Wednesday. Unite said its 750 members voted to go on strike, having turned down the company's "significantly below inflation rate pay offer" of a 6% increase and a one-off lump sum of 1,300 pounds ($1,615).

US Supreme Court extends block on abortion pill curbs until Friday

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Wednesday extended by two days a temporary block on limits set by lower courts on access to the abortion pill mifepristone in a challenge by anti-abortion groups to the drug's federal regulatory approval. The decision to keep the matter on hold gives the justices a bit more time to consider requests by President Joe Biden's administration and the pill's manufacturer Danco Laboratories to block an April 7 preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Texas that would greatly limit the availability of mifepristone while the litigation proceeds.

Illumina wins fast-track appeal of FTC order to offload Grail

A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday said it will accelerate reviewing Illumina Inc's challenge to a federal agency order requiring the biotechnology company to divest cancer diagnostic test maker Grail LLC. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued its ruling over the objection of the Federal Trade Commission. The agency said Illumina had not shown why the appeals court needed to speed up its consideration of the antitrust dispute.

J&J talc unit asks judge to halt cancer lawsuits as it pursues $8.9 billion settlement

A Johnson & Johnson subsidiary is again asking a U.S. judge to pause tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging the company's baby powder and other talc products cause cancer, as it seeks to resolve the litigation in bankruptcy after a federal appeals court found its first attempt improper. At a Tuesday hearing in Trenton, New Jersey, a lawyer for LTL Management argued the lawsuits, which are already stayed against LTL, should also be stopped against J&J, which has a market value of over $430 billion and has not filed for bankruptcy itself.

Maker of generic abortion pill sues to keep drug on the market

GenBioPro Inc, maker of the only U.S. generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone, on Wednesday filed a lawsuit seeking to ensure that it can continue selling its pill amid ongoing legal challenges. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Baltimore, comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to decide by 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday whether to block a lower court order stemming from a separate lawsuit by anti-abortion activists that would effectively ban GenBioPro's generic.

Amgen wins appeal in US patent case over generic psoriasis drugs

Amgen Inc convinced a U.S. appeals court on Wednesday to uphold patents that barred generic versions of its blockbuster psoriasis drug Otezla proposed by Zydus Pharmaceuticals and Novartis' Sandoz Inc. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a New Jersey federal court's ruling that Amgen patents covering the drug were valid and that the proposed generics would infringe them.