Health News Roundup: Analysis-Amgen's antitrust woes spur wider pharmaceutical deal fears; Pfizer to raise $31 billion for Seagen takeover in largest debt offering and more

It struck a $43 billion deal in March to acquire Seagen and its targeted cancer therapies as it prepares for a steep fall in COVID-19 sales and generic competition for some top-selling drugs. Explainer-Abortion pill case goes before conservative appeals court; What's next? The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Wednesday will hear the Biden administration's bid to overturn a Texas judge's order that, if allowed to take effect, would make the abortion drug mifepristone illegal.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Analysis-Amgen's antitrust woes spur wider pharmaceutical deal fears

Investors are scrambling to assess the fallout of a U.S. regulatory challenge against Amgen Inc's proposed $27.8 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics Plc, with some fearing a spillover to other big deals in the drug sector. While investors are accustomed to regulators under U.S. President Joe Biden citing potential harm to consumers in objecting to many large mergers, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) lawsuit filed on Tuesday surprised those who had brushed off the antitrust risk in Amgen's deal because of its limited business overlap with Horizon.

Pfizer to raise $31 billion for Seagen takeover in largest debt offering

Pfizer Inc is planning to raise $31 billion through its largest debt offering to finance its proposed acquisition of Seagen Inc, the drugmaker said late on Tuesday. It struck a $43 billion deal in March to acquire Seagen and its targeted cancer therapies as it prepares for a steep fall in COVID-19 sales and generic competition for some top-selling drugs.

Explainer-Abortion pill case goes before conservative appeals court; What's next?

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Wednesday will hear the Biden administration's bid to overturn a Texas judge's order that, if allowed to take effect, would make the abortion drug mifepristone illegal. However the 5th Circuit rules, the case will likely continue for months or years. Here is what you need to know about the case as it further unfolds:

J&J's proposed talc settlement would pay $400 million to US state AGs

Johnson & Johnson has set aside $400 million to resolve U.S. state consumer protection actions as part of its broader $8.9 billion effort to settle claims that its Baby Powder and other talc products cause cancer. J&J subsidiary LTL Management filed a bankruptcy plan in New Jersey late on Monday that details how the company intends to pay different types of cancer victims in a bankruptcy settlement. J&J has said that its talc products are safe and do not cause cancer. It is attempting for a second time to resolve more than 38,000 lawsuits in bankruptcy and prevent new cases from coming forward in the future.

US appeals court to weigh fate of abortion pill

A federal appeals court in New Orleans will hear arguments on Wednesday in a closely watched case brought by anti-abortion activists seeking to ban the abortion pill mifepristone, with potentially far-reaching impact on abortion access across the United States. The Biden administration will urge a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn last month's unprecedented ruling by U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas suspending mifepristone's FDA approval. Danco Laboratories, which sells the drug under the brand name Mifeprex, is also expected to argue before the panel.

White House wants to improve access to opioid overdose reversal medication

President Joe Biden's administration is seeking to meet with the makers of the life-saving medication naloxone used to reverse opioid overdoses, in an effort to increase access and reduce cost, a spokesperson for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said. ONDCP Director Dr. Rahul Gupta "plans to have conversations with manufacturers to share his key principle moving forward: the easier it is for people to access naloxone, the more lives we can save," the spokesperson said.

Roche says new MS drug shown to reduce brain lesions

Roche said on Wednesday that its multiple sclerosis drug candidate, part of a class of compounds that has been linked to cases of liver damage, reduced brain lesions in a mid-stage trial and that no new safety concerns emerged. The Swiss drugmaker said that its fenebrutinib pill significantly reduced brain lesions in people suffering from relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis, when compared to a group of patients on placebo, meeting the phase II trial's primary goal.

UK detects bird flu in two poultry workers - health agency

Britain has detected avian influenza virus in two poultry workers in England following testing for people who have been in contact with infected birds, the country's health security agency said on Tuesday. "The two people returning positive tests are known to have recently worked on an infected poultry farm in England. Neither has experienced any symptoms of avian influenza and both have since tested negative," a statement from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said.

US approves emergency use of bird flu vaccine to save California condors

U.S. officials on Tuesday announced the emergency use of a bird flu vaccine to protect the California condor, a critically endangered and magnificent animal that has already bounced back once from the brink of extinction. After finding a California condor dead from highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, in March, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sought help from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Since then, at least 13 condors with bird flu have died, USDA said in a press release.

AstraZeneca's Tagrisso, chemo combination shows promise in lung cancer trial

The combination of AstraZeneca's cancer drug, Tagrisso, with chemotherapy to treat patients with a type of lung cancer showed positive results in a late-stage trial, the company said on Wednesday. The drug maker said patients on the combined treatment showed a meaningful improvement in progression-free survival, or how long a patient lives without the disease getting worse after treatment, than patients given only Tagrisso.