Health News Roundup: Lonza sets goal to make Moderna COVID vaccine ingredients; Reasonable to expect some CPVID vaccine by year-end and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Exclusive: Lonza sets new goal to make Moderna COVID-19 vaccine ingredients

Lonza aims to speed completion of two commercial production lines for Moderna Inc's trial COVID-19 vaccine so manufacturing could start four to six weeks earlier than planned if the project is successful, the Swiss drugmaker's chairman said on Tuesday. Lonza, which hopes to make smaller batches of active ingredients for the U.S. biotechnology company's experimental vaccine by July, now aims to finish a commercial production line in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, a month or so earlier than its original December 2020 target, Albert Baehny told Reuters.

Reasonable to expect some coronavirus vaccine by year-end, Pentagon researcher says

A senior U.S. Army vaccine researcher said on Tuesday it was reasonable to expect that some sort of coronavirus vaccine could be available to part of the U.S. population by the end of the year. Defense Secretary Mark Esper vowed on May 15 that the U.S. military and other parts of the government would, in collaboration with the private sector, produce a vaccine at scale to treat the American people and partners abroad by year-end.

Timely screening, isolation helped U.S. Air Force base contain coronavirus

Measures taken at a U.S. Air Force base in Texas to curb the spread of the coronavirus resulted less than one percent of its population becoming infected over seven weeks between March and April, U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday. Timely screening, rapid isolation of suspected cases and social distancing enforced at the Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland helped keep COVID-19 cases low despite the presence of more than 10,000 trainees from across the country living and training together, according to the study published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

California court hears appeal of $289 million verdicts against Bayer in first Roundup cancer trial

A California appeals court on Tuesday heard arguments in the first case that went to trial over allegations that Bayer AG's glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup causes cancer, resulting in a $289 million judgment against the company. The August 2018 jury verdict in favor of groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson, later reduced by a judge to $78 million, launched massive litigation over the weed killer that has led Bayer's stock price to tumble more than 30%.

U.S. temporarily to allow certain impurities in hand sanitizer

The Trump administration said this week it will temporarily allow some impurities in alcohol-based hand sanitizer to ensure access to the product during the coronavirus pandemic, reversing course after having tightened restrictions in April. The move will provide clarity on impurity limits for a slew of fuel ethanol companies that had switched to producing hand sanitizer during the outbreak, after regulators discovered some of the impurities, including cancer-causing acetaldehyde, several weeks ago.

U.S. CDC reports total of 1.8 million coronavirus cases

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday reported a total of 1,802,470 cases of the new coronavirus, an increase of 14,790 cases from its previous count, and said that the number of deaths had risen by 761 to 105,157. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19, caused by a new coronavirus, as of 4 p.m. ET on June 1, versus its previous report released on Monday. (https://bit.ly/3eMRe3l)

Lancet says concerned about validity of widely cited hydroxychloroquine study

The Lancet medical journal said on Tuesday "serious scientific questions" had been brought to its attention about the validity of the data behind a widely cited and already corrected study on the dangers of the use of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. The Lancet study published on May 22 found that the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, which U.S. President Donald Trump took and has urged others to use, was tied to an increased risk of death in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

WHO director for Americas urges U.S. help as coronavirus surges in region

The World Health Organization's regional director for the Americas urged the United States on Tuesday to keep helping countries in the region to fight the novel coronavirus even as the Trump administration leaves the U.N. agency. Coronavirus has infected almost 3 million people in the region that has massive inequalities, vulnerable indigenous groups in the Amazon and megacities where people live in close quarters and share public transportation, said the director, Carissa Etienne.

France's coronavirus death toll up but hospitalizations down

France's coronavirus death toll rose by more than a 100 for the first time in 13 days on Tuesday, an increase that includes nursing homes data again after a three-day interruption. The health ministry said the number of fatalities had risen by 107, or 0.4%, to 28,940, the fifth-highest tally in the world.

U.S. FDA extends review of Novartis' multiple sclerosis drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has extended the review period for Novartis AG's multiple sclerosis drug ofatumumab by three months, the company said on Tuesday. The company did not disclose the reason for the delay and said the regulatory decision is now expected in September, compared with previous expectations for an approval decision by June.