Health News Roundup: Time and money for love: China brainstorms ways to boost birth rate; China's pig farms battle new surge in African swine fever and more

The moves follow the passing of President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act last year that capped insulin prices for Medicare recipients at $35 per month, but does not include patients without insurance. US to impose inflation fines on first set of drugs, lowering costs The U.S. government will subject 27 drugs to inflation penalties, it announced on Wednesday, meaning people on Medicare will pay less out-of-pocket by $2 to as high as $390 per average dose starting April 1.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Time and money for love: China brainstorms ways to boost birth rate

Concerned by China’s shrinking population, political advisors to the government have come up with more than 20 recommendations to boost birth rates, though experts say the best they can do is to slow the population's decline. China dug itself into a demographic hole largely through its one-child policy imposed between 1980 and 2015. Authorities raised the limit to three in 2021, but even during the stay at home COVID times couples have been reluctant to have babies.

China's pig farms battle new surge in African swine fever

A surge in African swine fever infections in China is set to reduce hog output later this year, farm managers and analysts said this week, pushing up prices in the world's top pork consumer as demand recovers. The incurable disease has plagued China for years, with an initial wave during 2018 and 2019 killing millions of pigs and leading to a dramatic decline in meat output that roiled global markets.

Chinese doctor who blew the whistle on SARS dies at 91

A Chinese military doctor who exposed the full extent of the SARS epidemic when it ripped through Beijing in 2003 has died at the age of 91, according to his friends and local media reports. Jiang Yanyong accused the government of deliberately underreporting the spread of the respiratory disease in an open letter sent to state media in 2003. The disease killed nearly 800 people worldwide.

Exodus of healthcare workers from poor countries worsening, WHO says

Poorer countries are increasingly losing healthcare workers to wealthier ones as the latter seek to shore up their own staff losses from the COVID-19 pandemic, sometimes through active recruitment, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. The trend for nurses and other staff to leave parts of Africa or Southeast Asia for better opportunities in wealthier countries in the Middle East or Europe was already under way before the pandemic but has accelerated since, the U.N. health agency said, as global competition heats up.

Pfizer's COVID drug data supports use in high-risk patients - FDA staff (March 14)

The U.S. health regulator's staff reviewers said on Tuesday data from Pfizer Inc's COVID-19 drug trials support its use in adults at high risk of progressing to severe disease, bringing the pill closer to a full approval. The Food and Drug Administration made its assessment in briefing documents ahead of a meeting of the agency's external advisers on Thursday to discuss full approval to use Pfizer's oral pill for high-risk COVID-19 patients exhibiting mild to moderate symptoms.

How GSK plans to replenish its depleted medicine cabinet

GSK's chief scientist says an overhaul of the drugmaker's R&D unit has begun delivering results - citing an RSV vaccine and promising hepatitis B and asthma treatments - and pledged a tighter focus than his predecessor on infectious disease and HIV. Tony Wood only took the helm of R&D last August. But in an interview with Reuters he said he had worked closely since 2018 with his predecessor Hal Barron to drive a culture shift that Chief Executive Emma Walmsley had said was needed to improve performance after her appointment in 2017.

U.S. FDA expands authorization of Pfizer bivalent COVID-19 shots in kids

Pfizer Inc said on Tuesday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had expanded the emergency use authorization (EUA) of the company and its partner BioNTech SE's bivalent COVID-19 vaccine as a single booster dose in certain children. The amended authorization is for children six months through four years of age who have completed their initial three-dose vaccination with Pfizer's original shot.

Amgen is sued for concealing $10.7 billion tax bill from investors

Amgen Inc has been sued in a proposed class action accusing the drugmaker of waiting too long to tell investors it might owe the Internal Revenue Service $10.7 billion in taxes and penalties. In a complaint filed on Monday night in Manhattan federal court, a Detroit-based pension fund said Amgen artificially inflated its stock price by concealing the dispute over its international tax strategy between July 2020 and April 2022.

Novo Nordisk to slash US insulin prices, following move by Eli Lilly

Novo Nordisk said on Tuesday it would cut U.S. list prices for several insulin products by up to 75% next year, joining rival Eli Lilly and Co as political pressure mounts to make these life-sustaining diabetes treatments more affordable. The moves follow the passing of President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act last year that capped insulin prices for Medicare recipients at $35 per month, but does not include patients without insurance.

US to impose inflation fines on first set of drugs, lowering costs

The U.S. government will subject 27 drugs to inflation penalties, it announced on Wednesday, meaning people on Medicare will pay less out-of-pocket by $2 to as high as $390 per average dose starting April 1. President Joe Biden's signature Inflation Reduction Act includes a provision penalizing drugmakers for charging prices that rise faster than inflation for people with disabilities or age 65 and older on the government's Medicare health program.