Health News Roundup: Pfizer to raise $31 billion for Seagen takeover in largest debt offering; Walgreens reaches $230 million opioid settlement with San Francisco and more

A positive vote by the panel on the vaccine's effectiveness and safety would boost its chances of becoming the first available maternal shot to protect babies, who are among those at greatest risk for severe illness from RSV. U.S. court issues temporary restraining order on $27.8 billion Amgen-Horizon deal A U.S. district court has issued a temporary restraining order on Amgen Inc's $27.8 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics following a submission for it by the two companies and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Amgen said on Wednesday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

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. The company 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.

Walgreens reaches $230 million opioid settlement with San Francisco

San Francisco said on Wednesday it reached a $230 million settlement with Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc over its role in the city's opioid epidemic. The settlement came nine months after U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco said the drugstore chain could be held liable for having "substantially contributed" to an opioid epidemic that caused "widespread harm" in the city and constituted a public nuisance.

Brazil boosts bird flu defense to protect world's top chicken industry

Brazil is taking extra precautions to protect the world's largest poultry export industry from a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus that was this week detected among wild birds in the country after previously hitting neighboring nations. Nearly $10 billion of chicken exports would be at risk if H5N1 bird flu infects commercial flocks in Brazil, which has taken on a growing role in supplying the world's poultry and eggs as importing nations ban chicken and turkey meat from countries with the virus.

Exclusive-India considers policy change after cough syrup deaths - Modi's office

India is considering a change to its pharmaceutical industry policy after cough syrups made in the country were linked to the deaths of children overseas, according to a document from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office, which noted that "important things" about the industry had been "overlooked". A brainstorming session was held in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad "to find a solution to exported cough syrups that killed children," Modi's office said in the document dated May 15 and reviewed by Reuters.

US appeals judges express support for opponents of abortion pill

Federal appeals court judges on Wednesday appeared to express support for opponents of the abortion pill mifepristone to pursue their challenge to its U.S. approval, which has potentially far-reaching consequences for abortion access across the country. From the start of the high-stakes oral arguments before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans, all three judges on the panel repeatedly pressed lawyers for the U.S. government and Danco Laboratories, which sells the drug under the brand name Mifeprex.

FTC effort to stop Amgen's Horizon takeover faces uphill fight

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) faces an uphill battle in its fight against Amgen Inc's $27.8 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics with an untested argument before a Trump-appointed judge, three antitrust experts said. Furthermore, the FTC's complaint, unsealed late Tuesday, expresses concern about deals struck between drug companies that give discounts to pharmacy benefit managers and insurers in return for making their medicines easier to get for their customers.

US FDA advisers to discuss Pfizer's maternal RSV vaccine

Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday will discuss Pfizer Inc's experimental respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine intended to protect infants through six months of age when given to expectant mothers. A positive vote by the panel on the vaccine's effectiveness and safety would boost its chances of becoming the first available maternal shot to protect babies, who are among those at greatest risk for severe illness from RSV.

U.S. court issues temporary restraining order on $27.8 billion Amgen-Horizon deal

A U.S. district court has issued a temporary restraining order on Amgen Inc's $27.8 billion acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics following a submission for it by the two companies and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, Amgen said on Wednesday. Under the order, Amgen and Horizon would not close their transaction until the earlier of Sept. 15 or the second business day after the court rules on the FTC's lawsuit filed on Tuesday.

South Carolina advances 6-week abortion ban

South Carolina's Republican-controlled state House of Representatives late Wednesday passed a "fetal heartbeat" bill to ban abortions about six weeks into pregnancy, before most people know they are pregnant, moving it to the state Senate where its fate is less certain. The measure, which passed mostly along party lines with a vote of 82 to 33, is a heavily amended version of a ban that the state Senate passed in February.

US FDA staff flag 'serious' safety risks for Intercept's NASH treatment

The U.S. health regulator's staff reviewers on Wednesday raised a string of concerns with Intercept Pharmaceuticals' treatment for a type of fatty liver disease, sending the drugmaker's shares plunging 22%. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's reviewers flagged increased risk of diabetes and liver injury from using the oral tablets, called obeticholic acid (OCA), for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).