Orexo, Keytruda, Vaping residue, African swine fever, Ebola: Health Round-up

A U.S. appeals court on Monday revived Swedish pharmaceutical company Orexo AB's lawsuit accusing a unit of Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd of infringing a patent for its opioid addiction drug Zubsolv.

Orexo soars after winning opioid drug appeal against Teva

A U.S. appeals court on Monday revived Swedish pharmaceutical company Orexo AB's lawsuit accusing a unit of Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd of infringing a patent for its opioid addiction drug Zubsolv. Shares of Orexo closed 30.9 percent higher in Stockholm after the decision by the U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., which handles intellectual property cases.

Traditional gender roles don't keep men from becoming caregivers

Elderly husbands may devote just as much effort to caring for a sick spouse as their wives might do if the situation were reversed, a German study suggests. Plenty of research on gender roles among older couples has found women do the bulk of housework even if both spouses have similar amounts of time available for domestic chores, the study team notes. Less clear, however, is whether men take on more caregiving or housework when women get sick.

Merck's Keytruda clocks up a new win as EU approves chemo cocktail

Merck & Co's key cancer drug Keytruda has been approved for use in Europe in combination with chemotherapy in previously untreated lung cancer patients, marking a further advance for the product after uncertainty about its EU prospects a year ago. Keytruda is the first such immunotherapy medicine to be approved in Europe for first-line use with chemotherapy in patients with advanced non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer, the most common form of the disease.

Young people with opioid addiction not getting proper treatment

The vast majority of young people struggling with addiction to opioids are not receiving medications that have been recommended to treat their disease, a new study shows. Only one in four received one of the medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration - methadone, buprenorphine or naltrexone - within three months of their diagnosis, according to the report in JAMA Pediatrics.

Vaping residue can transfer between rooms

Nicotine and other chemicals exhaled by e-cigarette smokers can move through air vents, leaving residue on surfaces in other locations, a new study found. In a California mall, researchers tracked e-cigarette chemicals from a vape shop and found the residue in a business next door.

U.S. appeals court says Missouri can enforce abortion laws

A federal appeals court on Monday cleared the way for Missouri to enforce state laws requiring doctors who perform abortions to be affiliated with hospitals and abortion clinics to be licensed as ambulatory surgical centers. The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis overturned a 2017 ruling that blocked enforcement of those laws and opened the door for more abortion providers to operate in the state, which at the time had only one.

U.S. appeals court invalidates Acorda patents on MS drug

A U.S. appeals court on Monday invalidated Acorda Therapeutics Inc patents covering its multiple sclerosis drug Ampyra, opening the door to generic competition for the company's flagship product. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling that four Acorda patents on Ampyra were invalid because they described obvious ideas.

Meat tracking key to fight African swine fever: OIE

Tracking meat and meat products from pigs infected with African swine fever is key to fight the spread of the highly viral disease as it can survive in processed food, the Deputy head of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Monday. African swine fever (ASF) has spread rapidly in eastern Europe and China, the world's largest pork producer, where new cases are appearing every day and the disease is traveling vast distances.

One in three U.S. teens text while driving, a survey shows

One in three teen drivers in the U.S. text while driving, new survey data suggests. And the number may be higher in states where teens start driving at younger ages. Researchers surveyed 101,397 teens age 14 and up, from 35 states, who had driven a vehicle in the past 30 days. All but one of the states had banned text messaging for drivers under age 21. Still, 38 percent of the teens said they had texted while driving at least once.

Ebola fight has new science but faces old hurdles in restive Congo

When Esperance Nzavaki heard she was cured of Ebola after three weeks of cutting-edge care at a medical center in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, she raised her arms to the sky with joy and praised the Lord. Her recovery is the testament to the effectiveness of a new treatment, which isolates patients in futuristic cube-shaped mobile units with transparent walls and gloved access, so health workers no longer need to don cumbersome protective gear.