Reuters Health News Summary

Moderna picks drugmaker Catalent to manufacture potential COVID-19 vaccine Moderna Inc said on Thursday it was partnering with contract drugmaker Catalent Inc for filling and packaging millions of doses of its experimental coronavirus vaccine to be supplied in the United States.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Gilead's remdesivir endorsed as first COVID-19 treatment in Europe

The European healthcare regulator has recommended the conditional approval of Gilead Sciences Inc's antiviral treatment, remdesivir, for use in COVID-19 patients, making it the first treatment to be on track to be green-lit in the continent. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Thursday its human medicines committee (CHMP) recommended the drug's use in adults and adolescents from 12 years of age with pneumonia who require oxygen support. (https://bit.ly/3i3O6Ck) U.S. sees second-largest rise in new coronavirus cases since crisis began

The United States has recorded the second-largest increase in coronavirus cases since the health crisis began, with a rise of 35,588 new infections on Tuesday as a dozen states see infections surge, according to a Reuters tally. Florida saw a record increase on Wednesday of over 5,500 new cases. On Tuesday, Arizona, California, Mississippi and Nevada had record rises. Texas set a record on Monday. Moderna picks drugmaker Catalent to manufacture potential COVID-19 vaccine

Moderna Inc said on Thursday it was partnering with contract drugmaker Catalent Inc for filling and packaging millions of doses of its experimental coronavirus vaccine to be supplied in the United States. The vaccine, among the first to be tested in humans in the United States, was found to produce protective antibodies in a small group of healthy volunteers. The company plans to begin late-stage trials in July. Vaccine makers face biggest medical manufacturing feat in history

Developing a COVID-19 vaccine in record time will be tough. Producing enough to end the pandemic will be the biggest medical manufacturing feat in history. That work is underway. Bayer bets on science in bid to prevent future Roundup lawsuits: legal experts

Seeking to forestall further claims, Bayer AG is taking a risky bet that an independent scientific review will ultimately show that its widely used weed killer Roundup does not cause cancer, legal experts said. The company on Wednesday agreed to pay as much as $10.9 billion to settle about 75% of the 125,000 filed and unfiled claims by Roundup users who say the herbicide caused them to develop a form of blood cancer. Indian capital readies vast quarantine centre as coronavirus cases mount

Authorities in New Delhi worked to convert a spiritual centre into a huge quarantine facility on Thursday as novel coronavirus cases in the Indian capital overtook the financial hub Mumbai for the first time. Delhi now has 70,390 coronavirus cases, with more than 40,000 detected in the last two weeks. LabCorp launches new neutralizing antibody test for COVID-19

LabCorp said on Thursday it has launched a new test that could assess the capacity of antibodies in patient plasma to inhibit the novel coronavirus. Information from the test about the virus-fighting ability of antibodies could be used in the development of COVID-19 vaccines, the company said. England COVID-19 test and trace system fails to reach a quarter of positive cases

England's COVID-19 test and trace system could not reach a quarter of people who had their cases transferred to the system after a positive test for the new coronavirus, the UK's Department of Health said on Thursday. Of 6,923 people who had their case transferred to the contact-tracing system in its third week of operation, 1,791, or 25.9%, could not be reached, with no contact details provided for a further 263 people. U.S. demand outstripping supply of steroid treatment for COVID

Soaring hospital demand for the steroid dexamethasone, which British researchers say significantly reduces mortality among severely ill COVID-19 patients, is outstripping supply of the drug, but hospitals have so far been able to treat patients out of their inventories, according to Vizient Inc, a drug buyer for about half of U.S. hospitals. Hospitals and other health-care customers advised by Vizient increased orders of the drug by more than 600% after the researchers announced their findings last week. Manufacturers were only able to fill around half of those orders, Vizient said. Congo announces end of Ebola outbreak in east, second deadliest on record

The second-largest Ebola outbreak on record is over after nearly two years and more than 2,200 deaths, Democratic Republic of Congo said on Thursday, even as a separate flare-up of the virus continued on the other side of the country. Despite effective vaccines and treatments that dramatically boosted survival rates, the outbreak dragged on as first responders struggled to gain access to virus hotspots in Congo's restive east.