Health News Roundup: BioNTech signs deal to co-develop OncoC4's cancer drug; Brazil court to rule on cannabis cultivation, may open door to planting and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Vaccine makers prep bird flu shot for humans 'just in case'; rich nations lock in supplies

Some of the world's leading makers of flu vaccines say they could make hundreds of millions of bird flu shots for humans within months if a new strain of avian influenza ever jumps across the species divide. One current outbreak of avian flu known as H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b has killed record numbers of birds and infected mammals. Human cases, however, remain very rare, and global health officials have said the risk of transmission between humans is still low.

BioNTech signs deal to co-develop OncoC4's cancer drug

Germany's BioNTech SE said on Monday that it signed a deal with privately held OncoC4 Inc to co-develop and commercialize its cancer antibody drug candidate. OncoC4 will get a $200 million upfront payment and is eligible to receive development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments as well as double-digit tiered royalties.

Karuna's schizophrenia drug meets goal, safety doubts drag shares

Karuna Therapeutics said its lead experimental drug significantly reduced schizophrenia symptoms in a late-stage trial, but concerns of it causing hypertension dragged the shares of the drug developer 5% lower on Monday. The drug, KarXT, met its primary goal with an 8.4-point reduction in a medical scale used to measure the severity of schizophrenia symptoms like delusions, hallucinations and emotional withdrawal among others.

FDA staff says safety issues with Biogen's ALS drug to not prevent approval

The U.S. health regulator's staff said on Monday safety issues with Biogen Inc's drug to treat an ultra-rare form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, should not prevent its accelerated approval. A panel of outside advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday will closely scrutinize mixed efficacy data from the drug's late-stage trial and vote on the drug's effectiveness, and if reduction of a key protein related to the disease is enough to conclude that it may benefit ALS patients.

Pressure rises on Bayer chair as DWS criticises excess board seats

Asset manager DWS on Monday joined in criticism of the multiple board commitments of Bayer's chairman, adding to upheaval at the drugmaker, which is the target of activist investors in the run-up to a change of CEO on June 1. Hendrik Schmidt, a corporate governance expert at Germany's DWS, told Reuters that his questions at Bayer's annual shareholder meeting on April 28 will include whether Chairman Norbert Winkeljohann plans reduce the number of board positions he holds.

Brazil court to rule on cannabis cultivation, may open door to planting

A Brazilian appeals court has agreed to rule on whether companies and farmers can plant cannabis in the country, which could open the door to legal cultivation for medicinal and industrial purposes after legislative efforts stalled in recent years. The decision by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), Brazil's top appeals court for non-constitutional matters, was made public on March 14 and established its jurisdiction for a nationwide precedent regarding the import of seeds and planting of cannabis.

Britain reports case of atypical mad cow disease

Britain has reported a case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly called mad cow disease, in the southwestern county of Cornwall, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Monday. The case of the case of atypical H-type BSE was confirmed in a 17-year-old indigenous cow on a beef suckler farm, WOAH said in a note, citing information from the British authorities.

WHO, advisors urge China to release all COVID-related data after new research

Advisors to the World Health Organization have urged China to release all information related to the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic after new findings were briefly shared on an international database used to track pathogens. New sequences of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as well as additional genomic data based on samples taken from a live animal market in Wuhan, China in 2020 were briefly uploaded to the open access GISAID database by Chinese scientists earlier this year, allowing them to be viewed by researchers in other countries, according to a Saturday statement from the WHO's Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO).

Wyoming governor signs law outlawing use of abortion pills

Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon on Friday signed into law a bill outlawing the use or prescription of medication abortion pills that was passed by the state's Republican-controlled legislature earlier this month. Gordon, a Republican, signed the law as a federal judge in Texas considers ordering a nationwide ban on the abortion pill mifepristone in response to a lawsuit by anti-abortion groups.

US FDA official says agency needs to start using accelerated approval for gene therapies - report

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration needs to start using accelerated approval for advancing gene therapies for rare diseases, STAT News reported on Monday, citing agency official Peter Marks. Accelerated approval would be particularly important for ultra-rare diseases, for which there are too few patients to run placebo-controlled studies, the report said, quoting Marks, who heads the agency's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

(With inputs from agencies.)