Health News Roundup: J&J sues Amgen over plan to sell drug similar to blockbuster Stelara; Two Chinese cities ease COVID curbs after protests spread and more

Sales for the first nine months of this year were $7.3 billion, up 7.9% over the same period last year. Eisai, Biogen Alzheimer's drug could be available to some next year Japan's Eisai Co plans to seek full approval of its experimental Alzheimer's drug lecanemab in the United States, Europe and Japan armed with data showing it can slow the brain-wasting disease for people with early symptoms, potentially getting the treatment to patients next year.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Indiana prosecutor seeks to punish doctor in 10-year-old's abortion case

Indiana's attorney general on Wednesday asked the state's medical board to discipline an Indiana doctor who performed an abortion on a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio in a case that became a flashpoint in the debate over access to the procedure. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, a Republican, accused Dr. Caitlin Bernard of "violating a patient’s privacy rights" and the obligation to immediately report child abuse to Indiana authorities.

Ambulance workers to strike, further disrupting UK health service

Britain's health service faces further disruption in December after thousands of ambulance workers represented by three different trade unions voted for strike action in disputes over pay and conditions. The GMB union said more than 10,000 ambulance workers across England and Wales had voted in favour of industrial action, while the Unite and Unison trade unions also said their ambulance service members had backed walkouts.

Alzheimer's drug from Eisai and Biogen slows cognitive decline, side-effects in focus

An experimental Alzheimer's drug from Eisai and Biogen slowed cognitive decline in a closely watched trial but may carry a risk of serious side effects for certain patients, according to detailed data presented on Tuesday. The drug, lecanemab, was associated with a dangerous type of brain swelling in nearly 13% of patients in the trial that spanned 18 months and enrolled nearly 1,800 participants with early-stage Alzheimer's.

COVID hit HIV detection in Europe, threatens eradication progress

The number of people in Europe with undiagnosed HIV has risen as testing rates fell during the COVID-19 pandemic, threatening a global goal of ending the disease by 2030, a report said. The joint World Health Organization (WHO) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) report said that in 2021 a quarter fewer HIV diagnoses were recorded compared to pre-pandemic levels in the WHO's European region.

Britain is little better prepared for future pandemics - Former UK vaccine chief

Britain is only marginally better prepared for another pandemic than it was for COVID-19, the former head of Britain's vaccine taskforce said on Wednesday, criticising how some structures that helped it emerge from the pandemic had been dismantled. Britain has one of the highest coronavirus death tolls in the world with more than 177,000 deaths, although its rapid procurement and deployment of vaccines helped the government lift lockdown restrictions sooner than some others.

J&J sues Amgen over plan to sell drug similar to blockbuster Stelara

Johnson & Johnson's Janssen unit has sued Amgen Inc over its plan to market a drug for ulcerative colitis and other conditions similar to J&J's top-selling Stelara, saying it would infringe two patents in a lawsuit made public on Wednesday. Stelara accounted for $9.1 billion of J&J's $52 billion in global drug sales last year. Sales for the first nine months of this year were $7.3 billion, up 7.9% over the same period last year.

Eisai, Biogen Alzheimer's drug could be available to some next year

Japan's Eisai Co plans to seek full approval of its experimental Alzheimer's drug lecanemab in the United States, Europe and Japan armed with data showing it can slow the brain-wasting disease for people with early symptoms, potentially getting the treatment to patients next year. It remains unclear how widely the drug developed with U.S. biotech Biogen Inc will be used due to uncertainty over insurance coverage, including the U.S. government's Medicare plan for people age 65 and over, potential side effects and cost.

Two Chinese cities ease COVID curbs after protests spread

The giant Chinese cities of Guangzhou and Chongqing announced an easing of COVID curbs on Wednesday, a day after demonstrators in southern Guangzhou clashed with police amid a string of protests against the world's toughest coronavirus restrictions. The demonstrations, which spread over the weekend to Shanghai, Beijing and elsewhere, have become a show of public defiance unprecedented since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012.

FDA pulls U.S. authorization for Eli Lilly's COVID drug bebtelovimab

Eli Lilly and Co's COVID-19 drug bebtelovimab is not currently authorized for emergency use in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration said, citing it is not expected to neutralize the dominant BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 subvariants of Omicron. Wednesday's announcement takes away authorization from the last COVID-19 monoclonal antibody treatment, leaving Pfizer Inc's antiviral drug Paxlovid, Merck's Lagevrio and Gilead Sciences' Veklury as treatments for the disease, besides convalescent plasma for some patients.

U.S. CDC to expand wastewater testing for poliovirus in some communities

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Wednesday it will expand wastewater testing for poliovirus in areas with low vaccination coverage or counties that are linked to a case in New York reported in July. Detection of poliovirus in sewage or wastewater indicates someone in the community is shedding the virus.

(With inputs from agencies.)