Health News Roundup: COVID-19 vaccination for health workers no longer mandatory, but favoured, France's health body says; COVID led to sharp rise in vaccine compensation schemes, but gaps remain -Oxford and more

The company said the decision followed a review of a late-stage study by a data monitoring panel, which showed the drug, reldesemtiv, had no effect in ALS patients compared with placebo. GSK licenses companies to make cheap copies of HIV prevention drug British drugmaker GSK has signed deals with three companies allowing them to make inexpensive generic versions of its long-acting HIV preventive medicine for use in lower-income countries, where the majority of new cases occur.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

COVID-19 vaccination for health workers no longer mandatory, but favoured, France's health body says

France's public health authority Haute Autorite de Sante (HAS)on Thursday eased its vaccination guidance for professionals in the health sector, saying the shot was no longer mandatory, but still strongly recommended, in light of recent epidemiological data. "This recommendation to lift the obligation to vaccinate against Covid-19 does not in any way call into question its previous ... recommendations which were made in different healthcare-related and epidemiological contexts", the HAS said in a statement. The government usually follows the body's recommendations.

COVID led to sharp rise in vaccine compensation schemes, but gaps remain -Oxford

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a nearly six-fold increase in the number of non-fault compensation schemes for vaccine injuries globally, said Oxford University researchers who on Friday made public an online database tracking the schemes. Regulators globally have shown that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and adverse events are extremely rare. But in those rare cases, the pandemic exposed problems in some countries -- such as in the United States -- with vaccine compensation schemes when large proportions of populations are inoculated.

U.S. judge blocks Obamacare coverage mandate for some cancer screenings, PrEP

A federal judge in Texas on Thursday blocked Obamacare's mandate that health insurance plans cover preventive care, including screenings for certain cancers and pre-exposure prophylaxis against HIV (PrEP), at no cost to patients. U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, previously found that the PrEP mandate violated a federal religious freedom law and that other no-cost preventive care mandates were based on recommendations by an illegally appointed task force.

US doctor groups debate best use of new weight-loss drugs

As powerful new obesity drugs enter the U.S. market, medical associations are keen to advise their members on how to best use them for patients. That is where the debate begins. Some specialists advocate for broad use of drugs like Novo Nordisk's Wegovy, alongside a healthy diet and exercise. Others recommend prioritizing them for high-risk patients, who have other conditions that are exacerbated by excess weight.

Drug developer Cytokinetics to stop late-stage trial of ALS treatment

Cytokinetics Inc said on Friday it would stop the development of its treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) as the drug was found to be ineffective, in a fresh setback to the drug developer. The company said the decision followed a review of a late-stage study by a data monitoring panel, which showed the drug, reldesemtiv, had no effect in ALS patients compared with placebo.

GSK licenses companies to make cheap copies of HIV prevention drug

British drugmaker GSK has signed deals with three companies allowing them to make inexpensive generic versions of its long-acting HIV preventive medicine for use in lower-income countries, where the majority of new cases occur. The injected drug cabotegravir was approved by regulators in the United States in late 2021. Last July, GSK announced a program with the United Nations-backed healthcare organisation, the Medicines Patent Pool, which aims to get poor countries access to new HIV therapies far earlier than they did for previous HIV medicines.

Lilly says experimental Alzheimer's drug reduces amyloid in small study

Eli Lilly and Co on Friday said early data from the first human study of its next-generation Alzheimer's treatment showed that it lowered levels of toxic amyloid plaques in the brains of people in the earliest stages of the mind-wasting disease. The higher the dose of the antibody drug, which was given by subcutaneous injection, the larger the effect, Lilly said.

Charles Rivers recommends against PETA's proposal for transparency on lab monkeys

The board of Charles River Laboratories has unanimously recommended against a shareholder proposal requiring transparency on its import practices of lab monkeys, according to a regulatory filing by the U.S. contract research organization firm. The proposal, brought forward by animal rights non-profit PETA, suggests Charles River annually disclose the species and the country of origin of the non-human primates (NHP) that it imports into the United States as a part of animal research services it offers to drug developers.

Syphilis cases in babies skyrocket in Canada amid healthcare failures

The numbers of babies born with syphilis in Canada are rising at a far faster rate than recorded in the United States or Europe, an increase public health experts said is driven by increased methamphetamine use and lack of access to the public health system for Indigenous people. While syphilis has made a global resurgence over the last five years, Canada is an outlier among wealthy nations in its rate of increase: 13-fold over five years, according to Health Canada. The incidence of babies born with syphilis reached 26 per 100,000 live births in 2021, the most recent year available, up from 2 in 2017, according to the Health Canada data.

Biden admin urges Supreme Court to hear 'skinny labels' case between Teva, GSK

The Biden Administration told the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday that it should agree to hear a patent appeal over drug labels involving Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc and GlaxoSmithKline LLC that could have significant ramifications for the generic-drug industry. The U.S. Solicitor General said Teva's generic version of GSK's heart drug Coreg could not have violated GSK's patent rights because Teva omitted the infringing use of the drug from its labeling.