Health News Roundup: U.S. FDA working to allow overseas infant formula beyond the shortage; Australia expands fourth COVID dose rollout amid fresh Omicron threat and more

The antiviral drug, Paxlovid, has been cleared for use and available for free in the United States since December, but fewer than half of the nearly 4 million courses distributed to pharmacies by the government so far have been administered. Factbox-Worldwide coronavirus cases cross 549.04 million, death toll at 6,766,468 More than 549.04 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 6,766,468​ have died, according to a Reuters tally.


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 07-07-2022 10:42 IST | Created: 07-07-2022 10:30 IST
Health News Roundup: U.S. FDA working to allow overseas infant formula beyond the shortage; Australia expands fourth COVID dose rollout amid fresh Omicron threat and more
Representative image Image Credit: ANI

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

U.S. FDA working to allow overseas infant formula beyond the shortage

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is looking at ways to allow overseas manufacturers of baby formula to keep selling in the country beyond the current shortage, the health regulator said on Wednesday. The FDA in May said it would allow baby formula imports until Nov. 14 to ease a shortage that had left parents scrambling to feed their babies.

Australia expands fourth COVID dose rollout amid fresh Omicron threat

Australia said on Thursday it would expand the rollout of the fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccines from next week as it battles a steady rise in hospital admissions fuelled by the highly transmissible new Omicron subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5. The new subvariants have now become the dominant coronavirus strains in several countries, with pandemic experts warning they could lead to more hospitalisations and deaths because they spread more quickly than other coronavirus variants.

Macau shuts popular shopping mall in race to contain COVID outbreak

Macau shut down a popular shopping mall adjacent to MGM China's casino resort on the city's main peninsula after several COVID-19 infections were found, as authorities raced to the biggest outbreak yet in the world's biggest gambling hub. One Central shopping mall will be shut for one week, while more than a dozen other zones or buildings have also been ordered to close, authorities said.

U.S. Senate Democrats advance deal to lower drug prices

Democrats in the U.S. Senate are advancing a deal that would allow the government's Medicare health plan for older and disabled Americans to negotiate lower prescription drug prices, Senate sources said on Wednesday. The plan, which could potentially lower government health costs by billions of dollars, has long been a goal of President Joe Biden's Democrats and is popular with voters.

U.S. FDA allows pharmacists to prescribe Pfizer's COVID-19 pill

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday it had authorized state-licensed pharmacists to prescribe Pfizer Inc's COVID-19 pill to eligible patients to help improve access to the treatment. The antiviral drug, Paxlovid, has been cleared for use and available for free in the United States since December, but fewer than half of the nearly 4 million courses distributed to pharmacies by the government so far have been administered.

Factbox-Worldwide coronavirus cases cross 549.04 million, death toll at 6,766,468

More than 549.04 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 6,766,468​ have died, according to a Reuters tally. Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.

Merck in advanced talks to buy Seagen in nearly $40-billion deal - WSJ

Drugmaker Merck & Co is in advanced talks to buy cancer-focused biotech company Seagen Inc in a deal that could be worth roughly $40 billion or more, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The companies are discussing a price above $200 a share for Seagen, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. (https://on.wsj.com/3uu3tMa)

Goodbye Shanghai: After 16 years, COVID curbs send American family packing

American Heather Kaye and her family, including cat Mochi, are part of a wave of residents departing Shanghai, leaving behind their homes and memories, driven out by two years of strict COVID-19 curbs, including a crushing two-month lockdown. Heather and husband George arrived in Shanghai from New York in 2006 for a one-year adventure, but 16 years later their two-bedroom apartment in Shanghai’s historic former French Concession is the only home their children have ever known.

Uterus transplants allow successful pregnancies in U.S. women-study

More than half of U.S. women who received a uterus through a transplant went on to have successful pregnancies, a new study shows. Between 2016 and 2021, 33 women received uterus transplants in the United States and so far 19 of them, or 58%, have delivered a total of 21 babies, researchers reported on Wednesday in JAMA Surgery.

WHO: More than 6,000 monkeypox cases reported, emergency meeting set

More than 6,000 cases of monkeypox have now been reported from 58 countries in the current outbreak, the World Health Organization said. The U.N. agency will reconvene a meeting of the committee that will advise on declaring the outbreak a global health emergency, the WHO's highest level of alert, in the week beginning July 18 or sooner, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual news conference from Geneva.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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