Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Beijing shuts parks, Shanghai tightens entry as China COVID cases rise

Beijing shut parks and museums on Tuesday and Shanghai tightened rules for people entering the city as Chinese authorities grapple with a spike in COVID-19 cases that has deepened concern about the economy and dimmed hopes for a quick reopening. China reported 28,127 new domestically transmitted cases for Monday, nearing its daily peak from April, with infections in the southern city of Guangzhou and the southwestern municipality of Chongqing accounting for about half the total.

Fauci pleads with Americans to get COVID shot in final White House briefing

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. health official celebrated and vilified as the face of the country's COVID-19 pandemic response, used his final White House briefing on Tuesday to denounce division and promote vaccines. Fauci, who plans to retire soon as President Joe Biden's top medical adviser and top U.S. infectious disease official, has dealt with the thorny questions around health crises from HIV/AIDS to avian flu and Ebola.

GSK to stop selling blood cancer drug Blenrep in United States

GSK will stop selling its blood cancer drug Blenrep in the United States, it said on Tuesday, in another setback for the British drugmaker's oncology business. The company had said this month that Blenrep had failed the main goal of a key study designed to show it was better than an existing treatment on the market, stoking fears that regulatory approval could be rescinded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Teva, AbbVie finalize $6.6 billion U.S. opioid settlements

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and AbbVie Inc have finalized the terms of settlements worth more than $6.6 billion to resolve thousands of lawsuits by U.S. state and local governments over the marketing of opioid painkillers, the companies and lawyers for the governments said Tuesday. Under the deals, first announced in July, Israel-based Teva will pay up to $4.25 billion, including a supply of the overdose drug naloxone. AbbVie will pay up to $2.37 billion. The final amounts of the settlements will depend on how many state and local governments opt into them.

Factbox-Pharmacies, drug companies settle lawsuits over U.S. opioid crisis

The sprawling, five-year-long litigation over the U.S. opioid crisis appears to be entering its final phase with finalized agreements by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and AbbVie Inc. There are tentative agreements by CVS Health Corp, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc and Walmart Inc to settle with state, local and tribal governments.

Merck's combination cancer therapy succeeds in late-stage study

Merck & Co Inc said on Tuesday its therapy involving cancer drug Keytruda in combination with chemotherapy met the main goal of a late-stage study for treating a type of gastric cancer. The combo therapy showed a "statistically significant" and "clinically meaningful" improvement in the study by helping cancer patients live longer, compared with chemotherapy as a standalone treatment, the drugmaker said.

Britain says monkeypox shot offers strong 78% protection

A single dose of the monkeypox vaccine provides 78% protection against the virus, according to data from England released on Tuesday that health officials said was the strongest evidence yet of its effectiveness. Monkeypox cases have remained low but the World Health Organisation continues to classify the disease as a global health emergency, its highest level of alert.

White House's Jha: Social media platform owners should consider role in COVID misinformation

Owners of social media platforms should consider their personal responsibility regarding health disinformation, and the public should choose reputable sources to trust, White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha said on Tuesday. "You can decide to trust America's physicians, or you can trust some random dude on Twitter. Those are your choices," Jha said at a White House press briefing.

Gavi rejects Novavax's claim on COVID vaccine deal breach

Global vaccine alliance Gavi on Tuesday rejected Novavax's claim that the group had breached an advance purchase agreement to procure 350 million doses of the company's COVID-19 vaccine. Novavax said on Monday that it had issued a notice to Gavi for terminating the agreement with immediate effect, citing the alliance's failure to procure the doses it had agreed to buy in May last year for the COVAX facility, a global vaccine distribution program.

Updated COVID boosters offer better protection than original -U.S. study

Updated COVID-19 boosters offer increased protection against new coronavirus subvariants in people who have previously received up to four doses of the older vaccine, based on data from the first study to assess how the retooled shots are faring in the real world, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. The findings support results from company studies showing that their updated shots produced higher antibody responses against the BA.4/B.5 subvariants than their original shots after one month.