Health News Roundup: China OKs its first mRNA vaccine, from drugmaker CSPC; Equatorial Guinea confirms eight more Marburg cases - WHO and more

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 backs accelerated approval for Biogen's ALS drug A panel of advisers to the U.S. drug regulator voted that data on Biogen Inc's experimental treatment for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, shows that the drug could work, potentially paving the way for an accelerated approval.

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.

Equatorial Guinea confirms eight more Marburg cases - WHO

Eight new confirmed cases of Marburg disease have been reported in Equatorial Guinea, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday. This brings the total of laboratory-confirmed cases to nine and probable cases to 20 since the outbreak of the deadly disease similar to Ebola was declared in February. Twenty deaths have been reported.

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.

Sanofi, Regeneron unveil 'blow-out' smoker's lung drug data

Sanofi's asthma drug Dupixent met all targets in a trial to treat "smoker's lung", potentially adding billions to the French drugmaker's growth prospects, but also underscoring a heavy reliance on its bestseller. In a late stage trial Dupixent, jointly developed with Regeneron, led to a 30% reduction in moderate or severe acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a potentially deadly disease marked by progressive lung function decline.

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 backs accelerated approval for Biogen's ALS drug

A panel of advisers to the U.S. drug regulator voted that data on Biogen Inc's experimental treatment for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, shows that the drug could work, potentially paving the way for an accelerated approval. While the panel was divided on whether there was enough evidence to show the drug works, it voted in favor of data that showed the neurological disorder drug, tofersen, reduced levels of protein neurofilament in patients.

Moderna, Generation Bio enter licensing deal for genetic medicines

Moderna Inc said on Thursday it had entered into a licensing deal and would make a $36 million equity investment in Generation Bio Co to develop genetic medicine targeting the immune system and liver disease. Generation Bio will also receive an upfront cash payment of $40 million, and an additional $1.8 billion in milestone payments.

Analysis-In US abortion pill case, FDA could soften blow of court-ordered restrictions

A conservative federal judge in Texas could soon order the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to reconsider its 22-year-old approval for a pill used in the most common form of abortion in the United States, or order the approval revoked outright. Of the various potential rulings possible in the case involving the abortion pill mifepristone, either of those outcomes would be unprecedented judicial intervention in the agency's regulatory process.