Health News Roundup: U.S. FDA advisers recommend Ferring's fecal transplant therapy; Over 4 million Americans administered updated COVID boosters, says CDC and more

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which worked with companies to prevent shortages of drugs and medical devices after Hurricane Maria battered the medical manufacturing hub in 2017, said it is in discussion with companies it regulates there regarding any impact on supplies. Hong Kong will scrap COVID hotel quarantine from Sept.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

U.S. FDA advisers recommend 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 the recurrence of a bacterial infection, bringing the first therapy of its kind closer to approval. The therapy, Rebyota, works by replenishing the good gut bacteria through samples of microbes distilled from feces of healthy donors, delivered through an enema in this case.

Over 4 million Americans administered updated COVID boosters, says CDC

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday that 4.4 million people had received updated COVID-19 booster shots, a few weeks into the government's new vaccination campaign. The United States began its rollout of the Omicron-tailored shots from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna earlier this month.

Medical device makers see little impact from Fiona on Puerto Rico operations

Medical device companies and some drugmakers with manufacturing operations in Puerto Rico said they do not expect meaningful disruption from Hurricane Fiona, which knocked out power for over 3 million people and caused flooding and landslides on the island. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which worked with companies to prevent shortages of drugs and medical devices after Hurricane Maria battered the medical manufacturing hub in 2017, said it is in discussion with companies it regulates there regarding any impact on supplies.

Hong Kong will scrap the COVID hotel quarantine from Sept. 26

Hong Kong will scrap its controversial COVID-19 hotel quarantine policy for all arrivals from Sept. 26, more than 2.5 years after it was first implemented, in a long-awaited move for many residents and businesses in the financial hub. All international arrivals will be able to return home or to the accommodation of their choice but will have to self-monitor for three days after entering the Chinese special administrative hub, the government said on Friday.

Biden to announce $1.5 billion to fight U.S. opioid crisis

U.S. President Joe Biden will announce on Friday nearly $1.5 billion to fund access to medications for opioid overdoses, sanctions against traffickers, and increased funding for law enforcement, the White House said. The Biden administration is keen to show it is taking action on a worsening nationwide opioid crisis, which according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data fueled more than 107,000 drug overdose deaths in 2021, a nearly 15% increase from the previous year.

Doping-WADA outlaws tramadol use from 2024, maintains cannabis ban

The World Anti-Doping Agency will add the painkiller tramadol to the list of banned substances for athletes in competition from 2024 and has maintained its ban on cannabis after a review. The decisions were taken by WADA's executive committee after a meeting in Sydney on Friday and followed recommendations from the body's advisory group on the list of banned substances.

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.

Denmark to allow mink breeding again from 2023

Denmark will not extend a ban on mink breeding when the current ban expires at the turn of the year, the country's agriculture ministry said on Friday. The government introduced the temporary ban after it ordered the culling of about 17 million mink in 2020 over fears of the animals spreading a mutated coronavirus variant.

U.S. cutting global donations of Pfizer COVID shots as demand slows

The United States is significantly cutting back the number of Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine doses it will buy for a donation to poorer nations this year, Pfizer said on Thursday, citing diminished demand for the shots in those countries. Pfizer said it agreed to reduce the number of doses it will deliver by year-end to 600 million, down from the billion-dose commitment the U.S. government made a year ago.

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.

(With inputs from agencies.)