Health News Roundup: FDA approves new testosterone drug; Nobel medicine prize and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Antares Pharma's testosterone drug gets FDA approval

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved Antares Pharma Inc's injectable drug to treat low testosterone levels in men, the company said, nearly a year after being rejected. The drug, however, comes with a boxed warning - the FDA's strongest - flagging risks of a rise in blood pressure that can cause major cardiovascular events.

Scientists behind game-changing cancer immunotherapies win Nobel medicine prize

American James Allison and Japanese Tasuku Honjo won the 2018 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine on Monday for game-changing discoveries about how to harness and manipulate the immune system to fight cancer. The scientists' work in the 1990s has since swiftly led to new and dramatically improved therapies for cancers such as melanoma and lung cancer, which had previously been extremely difficult to treat.

Philip Morris sues South Korea over e-cigarette info disclosure

Philip Morris Korea Inc. said on Monday it has filed a lawsuit against the South Korean government, demanding the disclosure of information on a recent test that concluded electronic cigarettes contain harmful substances. Seoul's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said in June after a study that up to five cancer-causing substances were found in the heated smoking devices, and the level of tar discovered in two products, including Philip Morris' iQOS, exceeded that of regular cigarettes.

China to lift restrictions where second African swine fever outbreak found

China is set to lift restrictions on an area in central Henan province, where the country's second African swine fever outbreak occurred last month, the agriculture ministry said on Sunday. The local government in Zhengzhou plans to officially lift the blockade on Oct. 1, but it must take measures to prevent recurrence of the highly contagious disease, the ministry said in a statement.

Virus hurts hopes of fatter returns for Russian pork producers

Russia's pork industry is being hampered by African Swine Fever (ASF) as outbreaks of the virus are preventing producers from exporting more to lucrative Asian markets and leaving them with falling prices at home, industry experts say. Russia first reported ASF in 2007 and has registered more than 1,300 cases since then as the highly contagious hemorrhagic disease of pigs has spread from the southern Caucasus region to the country's northwest region and Siberia in the east.