Health News Roundup: WHO warns Sudan's hospitals running out of supplies, staff; J&J talc unit again seeks to halt 38,000 cancer lawsuits and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

US FDA authorizes second Omicron-updated COVID booster for older adults

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday authorized a second dose of Omicron-targeting COVID-19 vaccines for older adults as well as those with a weak immune system. The agency also said the updated shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna would become the new primary COVID vaccine, and withdrew its emergency-use authorization for the older messenger RNA vaccines that target only the original version of coronavirus.

West Africa faces acute food shortages with thousands near famine, say UN agencies

Forty-eight million people in West and Central Africa face acute food insecurity in the coming months, a 10-year high spurred by insecurity, climate shocks, COVID-19 and high prices, United Nations humanitarian agencies warned on Tuesday. West and Central Africa has faced increasing risks caused by higher temperatures and erratic rainfall. War in Ukraine has contributed to food and fertilizer shortages in one of the world's poorest regions.

Juul, Altria settle with Minnesota over teen vaping addiction

E-cigarette company Juul Labs Inc and its former largest investor, Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc, on Monday settled claims by the state of Minnesota that accused them of fueling teen vaping addiction. The settlement was announced by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and by Juul as a trial in the case, which had kicked off in late March, was nearing its end.

Spanish hospital pioneers new lung transplant approach

A Spanish hospital has carried out a lung transplant using a pioneering technique with a robot and a new access route that no longer requires cutting through bone, experts said on Monday. Surgeons at Vall d'Hebron hospital in Barcelona used a four-armed robot dubbed "Da Vinci" to cut a small section of the patient's skin, fat and muscle to remove the damaged lung and insert a new one through an eight-centimetre (three-inch) incision below the sternum, just above the diaphragm.

Anti-abortion groups urge US Supreme Court to restrict abortion pill

The U.S. Supreme Court should restrict the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone, anti-abortion groups challenging the medication's federal regulatory approval told the justices in a filing on Tuesday, urging them to implement curbs ordered by a conservative federal judge in Texas. The challengers urged the Supreme Court to reject emergency requests by Democratic President Joe Biden's administration and the pill's manufacturer to halt the April 7 preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo that would greatly limit mifepristone's distribution, while litigation proceeds.

AstraZeneca confident new COVID antibody protects against known variants

AstraZeneca is confident that its new version of COVID-19 antibody treatment could protect immunocompromised patients against all known virus variants, its vaccines head said. Laboratory studies show the antibody, called AZD3152, neutralizes all known variants of COVID-19 and AstraZeneca has support from regulators to make the treatment available by the end of this year, Iskra Reic said in an interview on Tuesday.

WHO warns Sudan's hospitals running out of supplies, staff

The World Health Organization's chief called on Tuesday for the parties in the conflict in Sudan to provide access to medical facilities to all those requiring care, warning that medical supplies and personnel in the capital are running low.

"I want to be very clear: All parties must ensure unrestricted and safe access to health facilities for those injured and everyone in need of medical care," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a media briefing.

J&J talc unit again seeks to halt 38,000 cancer lawsuits

A Johnson & Johnson subsidiary is again asking a U.S. judge to pause tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging that the company's baby powder and other talc products cause cancer, as it takes another shot at resolving the litigation in bankruptcy after a federal appeals court found its first attempt improper.

At a Tuesday hearing in Trenton, New Jersey, a lawyer for LTL Management argued that the lawsuits, which are already stayed against LTL, should also be stopped against J&J, which has a market value of over $430 billion and has not filed for bankruptcy itself.

US allows use of Gamida's therapy in blood cancer treatment

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Monday it had approved the use of Gamida Cell Ltd's cell therapy for cutting the risk of infection in patients undergoing treatment for blood cancer, sending the company's shares up 46%. The approval allows the company to launch its first-ever commercial therapy under the brand name Omisirge for patients who are 12 years or older and are undergoing stem cell transplantation.

Watchdog sees fault in EU Commission tobacco contacts

The European ombudsman has made an initial finding that the European Commission's failure to be fully transparent about its meetings with the tobacco industry constitutes maladministration and is demanding an answer within three months. In a letter to the Commission made public on Tuesday, ombudsman Emily O'Reilly shared preliminary conclusions from her team's inquiry into EU executive contacts with tobacco interest representatives in 2020 and 2021, a follow-up to an earlier study concluded in 2016.

(With inputs from agencies.)