Health News Roundup: Finding COVID-19's origins is a moral imperative - WHO's Tedros; Moderna loses bid to shift liability in COVID-19 vaccine patent case and more

The U.S. health regulator's decision allows use of the trofinetide, to be sold under the brand name Daybue, in adult and pediatric patients two years of age and older and comes with a warning of diarrhea and weight loss. Economists warn of costs if US Medicare covers new obesity drugs The cost of expanding U.S. Medicare prescription drug coverage to pay for expensive, new obesity medications could be catastrophic, health economists warned in a report published on Saturday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Moderna loses bid to shift liability in COVID-19 vaccine patent case

Despite the backing of the U.S. government, Moderna Inc on Friday failed to persuade a federal judge it should not have to face a patent lawsuit over its COVID-19 vaccine and that the United States should have been sued instead. U.S. District Judge Mitchell Goldberg ruled for the second time that Moderna had not yet shown that the government was the proper target of a lawsuit by Arbutus Biopharma Corp and Genevant Sciences GmbH.

Finding COVID-19's origins is a moral imperative - WHO's Tedros

Discovering the origins of COVID-19 is a moral imperative and all hypotheses must be explored, the head of the World Health Organization said, in the clearest indication yet that the U.N. body remains committed to finding how the virus arose. A U.S. agency was reported by the Wall Street Journal to have assessed the pandemic had likely been caused by an unintended Chinese laboratory leak, raising pressure on the WHO to come up with answers. Beijing denies the assessment which could soon become public after the U.S. House of Representatives voted this week to declassify it.

U.S. FDA approves Acadia's genetic Rett syndrome drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc's drug for the treatment of Rett syndrome, a genetic brain disorder, the company said on Friday, making it the first approved drug for the condition. The U.S. health regulator's decision allows use of the trofinetide, to be sold under the brand name Daybue, in adult and pediatric patients two years of age and older and comes with a warning of diarrhea and weight loss.

Economists warn of costs if US Medicare covers new obesity drugs

The cost of expanding U.S. Medicare prescription drug coverage to pay for expensive, new obesity medications could be catastrophic, health economists warned in a report published on Saturday. Big-selling diabetes drugs have been repurposed as obesity treatments after demonstrating weight loss of more than 20% in clinical trials. While they are far more effective than older drugs, lifetime use might be required to keep lost weight off.