Reuters Health News Summary

The report issued Thursday by the inspector general for the U.S. Labor Department identified "an increase of $29.6 billion in potentially fraudulent payments." U.S. FDA panel recommends Ferring's fecal transplant therapy A panel of U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisers voted in favor of Ferring Pharmaceuticals' fecal transplant-based therapy to reduce recurrent infections caused by a bacteria known as C.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Pfizer applies to Swissmedic for authorisation of another COVID-19 vaccine

Pfizer said on Thursday it had submitted an application to Swissmedic for authorisation of a further bivalent COVID-19 vaccine. The ready-to-use dispersion for injection contained both messenger RNA (mRNA) from the original Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine and mRNA coding for the spike protein of Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5, Pfizer said.

Fraudsters likely stole $45.6 billion from U.S. unemployment insurance program in COVID

Fraudsters likely stole $45.6 billion from the United States' unemployment insurance program during the COVID-19 pandemic by applying tactics like using Social Security numbers of deceased individuals, a federal watchdog said on Thursday. About a year ago, nearly $16 billion in potential fraud had been identified. The report issued Thursday by the inspector general for the U.S. Labor Department identified "an increase of $29.6 billion in potentially fraudulent payments."

U.S. FDA panel recommends Ferring's fecal transplant therapy

A panel of U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisers voted in favor of Ferring Pharmaceuticals' fecal transplant-based therapy to reduce recurrent infections caused by a bacteria known as C. difficile. The therapy is based on the concept of replenishing the good gut bacteria through samples of microbes distilled from faeces of healthy donors, delivered through an enema in this case.

Uganda has confirmed seven Ebola cases so far, one death

Uganda has confirmed seven cases of Ebola including in a man who died this week, and seven other deaths are being investigated as suspected cases of a strain for which the authorities do not yet have a vaccine, officials said on Thursday. The 24-year-old man who died had developed a high fever, diarrhoea and abdominal pains, and was vomiting blood. After initially being treated for malaria, he was diagnosed as having contracted the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus.

Humana, CVS among firms looking to buy Cano Health - reports

Humana and CVS Health are among the several companies looking to buy senior-care facility operator Cano Health, according to media reports on Thursday, sending Cano's shares up about 50%. The talks are serious and a deal to purchase Cano could be struck in the next several weeks, the Wall Street Journal said on Thursday citing people familiar with the matter.

GSK eyes Spero's experimental urinary tract infection drug, takes stake

British drugmaker GSK said on Thursday it would take a stake in Spero Therapeutics as part of a licensing agreement for the U.S.-based drug developer's experimental antibiotic for complicated urinary tract infections (cUTI). GSK will pay $66 million upfront for the oral antibiotic tebipenem HBr and buy $9 million of Spero shares as part of the deal.

Pfizer to supply up to 6 million COVID pill courses for lower income countries

Pfizer Inc said on Thursday it would supply up to 6 million courses of its COVID-19 antiviral treatment to NGO Global Fund for low- and middle-income countries that seeks to address worldwide disparities in COVID response. The company said Paxlovid treatment courses will be available for procurement through Global Fund's COVID-19 Response Mechanism to 132 low- and middle-income countries this year, subject to local regulatory clearances.

COVID raises risk of long-term brain injury, large U.S. study finds

People who had COVID-19 are at higher risk for a host of brain injuries a year later compared with people who were never infected by the coronavirus, a finding that could affect millions of Americans, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday. The year-long study, published in Nature Medicine, assessed brain health across 44 different disorders using medical records without patient identifiers from millions of U.S. veterans.

U.S. FDA panel votes against Spectrum's lung cancer drug

Advisers to the U.S Food and Drug Administration on Thursday voted against recommending Spectrum Pharmaceuticals' experimental drug for the treatment of patients with a form of non-small cell lung cancer. The FDA panel voted 9 to 4 against the oral drug, poziotinib, citing marginal efficacy, high level of toxicities, and lack of dose optimization.

Novartis to take U.S. drug patent case to Supreme Court

Novartis AG plans to ask the U.S. Supreme court to uphold the validity of a patent it holds on the dosing regimen for multiple sclerosis drug Gilenya after suffering a setback in a federal appeals court ruling, the Swiss drugmaker said on Wednesday. The ruling meant HEC Pharma and other drugmakers would potentially be able to launch a generic version of 0.5mg Gilenya imminently, pending any other judicial actions, it said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)