Health News Roundup: U.S. FDA says it needs more time to decide on Juul, other e-cigarettes; U.S. government to tackle Medicare drug payments to try to cut costs and more

The agency had been expected to make a decision by Thursday, a year after Juul and other e-cigarette brands, including British American Tobacco Plc's Vuse and Imperial Brands Plc's Blu, faced a deadline to file applications showing their products provided a net benefit to public health. U.S. government to tackle Medicare drug payments to try to cut costs President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday unveiled its promised initiative aimed at cutting drug prices, saying it will test new ways to reduce such costs for the Medicare health insurance program including tying payments for medications to their effectiveness.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

U.S. FDA says it needs more time to decide on Juul, other e-cigarettes

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday it needs more time to decide whether e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc and other major manufacturers can sell their products in the United States. The agency had been expected to make a decision by Thursday, a year after Juul and other e-cigarette brands, including British American Tobacco Plc's Vuse and Imperial Brands Plc's Blu, faced a deadline to file applications showing their products provided a net benefit to public health.

U.S. government to tackle Medicare drug payments to try to cut costs

President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday unveiled its promised initiative aimed at cutting drug prices, saying it will test new ways to reduce such costs for the Medicare health insurance program including tying payments for medications to their effectiveness. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees the federal medical insurance program for people age 65 and older and the disabled, announced the initiative, which will use models to gauge the clinical value of medicines to determine how much Medicare pays for them.

Mexico's Supreme Court rules right to life from conception is unconstitutional

Mexico's supreme court ruled on Thursday that the protection of "life from conception" was unconstitutional, doubling down on its decision earlier this week that abortion was not a crime. The ruling, stemming from a case out of Sinaloa state, has implications for Mexican states that have laws to defend a right to life from conception and put women at risk of prosecution for aborting a pregnancy.

Australia's daily COVID-19 cases near 2,000 as Delta gains ground

Australia's COVID-19 daily cases topped 1,900 for the first time in the pandemic on Friday as an outbreak fuelled by the highly infectious Delta variant continued to gain ground in locked-down Sydney and Melbourne, its largest cities. Australia is in the grip of the third wave of infections with the Delta outbreak forcing officials to ditch their COVID-zero strategy in favour of suppressing the virus.

Amazon.com to cut cost of COVID-19 PCR test kits

Amazon.com said it will cut the cost of its direct-to-consumer COVID-19 PCR Test Collection kit to $36.99, a $3 price reduction. The U.S. retailer said the price cut reflects its costs for selling the FDA-approved kit and is the result of a public-private partnership with the Biden administration.

U.S. sues to block Texas abortion ban, calls it 'unconstitutional'

President Joe Biden's administration on Thursday sued Texas, seeking to block enforcement of a new law almost entirely banning abortion in the state, as Democrats fear the right to abortion established almost 50 years ago may be at risk. The U.S. Supreme Court last week let stand the Texas law banning abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy before many women realize they are pregnant.

Drugmaker Endo settles opioid claims by New York, counties for $50 million

Drugmaker Endo International Plc on Thursday said it has agreed to pay $50 million to resolve lawsuits by New York state and two of its largest counties related to the sale and marketing of opioids. Endo said the settlement includes no admission of wrongdoing by Endo or its subsidiaries.

Attacking anti-vaccine movement, Biden mandates widespread COVID shots, tests

President Joe Biden took aim on Thursday at vaccine resistance in America, announcing policies requiring most federal employees to get COVID-19 vaccinations and pushing large employers to have their workers inoculated or tested weekly. The new measures, which Biden laid out in remarks from the White House, would apply to about two-thirds of all U.S. employees, those who work for businesses with more than 100 workers.

Australia's New South Wales reports biggest daily COVID-19 caseload

Australia's New South Wales state, the epicentre of the country's worst outbreak, reported on Friday 1,542 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases, its biggest one-day rise in the pandemic, topping the previous high of 1,533 hit last week. Nine new deaths were recorded in the state, taking the total deaths in the latest outbreak to 162.

Auckland COVID cases drop again as New Zealand presses on with Delta curbs

New Zealand reported 11 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, all in locked down Auckland, its biggest city, as the country looks to limit the spread of the highly transmissible Delta variant of the coronavirus. The latest daily number was down from the 13 infections recorded on Thursday and the lowest any day this week, taking the total number of infections from the current outbreak, which started in mid-August, to 879.

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