Health News Roundup: China OKs its first mRNA vaccine, from drugmaker CSPC; US FDA declines to approve AbbVie's Parkinson's disease therapy and more

The drug, Evkeeza, was approved in February 2021 as an additional treatment with other lipid-lowering therapies for patients aged 12 years and above with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH). Moderna CEO defends $130 US COVID vaccine price in Senate hearing Moderna Inc's chief executive on Wednesday defended the company's plan to quadruple the price of its COVID-19 vaccine, telling a U.S. Senate committee hearing it will no longer have the economies of scale from government procurement when the shots move into the private market.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

China OKs its first mRNA vaccine, from drugmaker CSPC

China has approved its first domestically developed mRNA vaccine against COVID-19, CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd said on Wednesday, a major achievement in a country that has declined to use Western COVID shots to support domestic research. China, whose home-grown vaccines are seen as less effective than the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA shots, has been racing to develop vaccines using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology since early 2020.

US FDA declines to approve AbbVie's Parkinson's disease therapy

AbbVie Inc said on Wednesday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had declined to approve its Parkinson's disease therapy for adults and had requested for more information on the device used to administer the treatment. The therapy, ABBV-951, is a formulation of carbidopa-levodopa, the standard of care for the disease. It is administered subcutaneously, or under the skin, through an infusion pump.

Human rights court begins review of high-stakes El Salvador abortion case

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights on Wednesday began hearing the historic case of a Salvadoran woman who was denied an abortion in 2013 despite doctors' calls to terminate her high-risk pregnancy. The case of the woman, a domestic worker known only as Beatriz, became a symbol of El Salvador's blanket ban on abortion, which punishes with prison time those who undergo the procedure and those who perform or assist in it.

US FDA grants accelerated approval for Incyte's skin cancer therapy

Incyte Corp said on Wednesday its monoclonal antibody, Zynyz, has won accelerated approval from the U.S. health regulator for treating a rare and aggressive type of skin cancer in adults. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the therapy in Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) patients for whom the cancer has come back or spread to other parts of the body.

Novartis scraps UK heart attack prevention trial

Novartis is halting a UK-based trial originally planned as part of a partnership with NHS England, a setback in its quest to win wider approval for its novel cholesterol-lowering drug to prevent heart attacks and strokes. A spokesperson said that among the factors influencing the decision, the coronavirus pandemic had made it difficult to make progress on the trial.

J&J to seek U.S. Supreme Court review on unit's bankruptcy

Johnson & Johnson said on Wednesday that it would ask the U.S. Supreme Court to revive its effort to resolve tens of thousands of lawsuits over its talc products through the bankruptcy of a subsidiary, after an appeals court refused to reconsider its ruling that the bankruptcy was improper. J&J sought to use the bankruptcy of its subsidiary company, LTL Management, to halt more than 38,000 lawsuits alleging the company’s Baby Powder and other talc products are contaminated with asbestos, which J&J denies.

Hershey looking to 'eradicate' lead, cadmium from chocolate -CFO

Hershey Co is looking to reduce "trace" amounts of lead and cadmium in its chocolate, chief financial officer Steve Voskiul told Reuters on Wednesday, after Consumer Reports found that some dark chocolate bars had potentially harmful levels of the heavy metals. Consumer Reports, a nonprofit consumer group, tested chocolate bars including those made by Hershey late last year and found that some of them contained possibly harmful levels of lead, cadmium or both for people who eat more than one ounce per day.

US FDA panel says current data not 'convincing' for Biogen's ALS drug

A panel of advisers to the U.S. health regulator said on Wednesday there was not enough convincing evidence to show the effectiveness of Biogen Inc's experimental treatment for an inherited form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) panel voted 5 to 3 that the late-stage data for the drug, tofersen, did not show it was an effective treatment for ALS patients with mutations in a specific gene that leads to accumulation of toxic levels of a protein known as superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1).

US FDA expands use of Regeneron's cholesterol drug in young children

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Wednesday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had approved the expanded use of its drug in children aged 5 to 11 years to treat an ultra-rare disease that causes high cholesterol. The drug, Evkeeza, was approved in February 2021 as an additional treatment with other lipid-lowering therapies for patients aged 12 years and above with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH).

Moderna CEO defends $130 US COVID vaccine price in Senate hearing

Moderna Inc's chief executive on Wednesday defended the company's plan to quadruple the price of its COVID-19 vaccine, telling a U.S. Senate committee hearing it will no longer have the economies of scale from government procurement when the shots move into the private market. Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel was called to testify after the company flagged plans to raise the vaccine's price to as much as $130 per dose, drawing the ire of Democratic U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, who chairs the influential Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP).

(With inputs from agencies.)