Health News Roundup: AstraZeneca signs $2 billion agreement with Quell to develop cell therapies; India study estimates 11% of population is diabetic and more


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 10-06-2023 02:37 IST | Created: 10-06-2023 02:31 IST
Health News Roundup: AstraZeneca signs $2 billion agreement with Quell to develop cell therapies; India study estimates 11% of population is diabetic and more
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Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

AstraZeneca signs $2 billion agreement with Quell to develop cell therapies

AstraZeneca said on Friday it had signed an agreement with Quell Therapeutics potentially worth more than $2 billion to develop cell therapies that could cure autoimmune diseases. The agreement includes developing, manufacturing and commercialising cell therapies that have the potential to be curative in type 1 diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease indications, the drugmaker said in a statement.

HIV alarm in Uganda as anti-gay law forces LGBT 'lockdown'

The HIV/AIDS treatment centre in Kampala is almost empty, days after Uganda enacted one of the most draconian anti-gay laws on Earth. The usual daily influx of around 50 patients has all but dried up, say staff. Antiretroviral drugs pile up unused.

Soccer-Former players much more likely to have neurodegenerative diseases - FA study

Former professional footballers were found to be 3.46 times more likely to have neurodegenerative diseases and are more at risk of being diagnosed with dementia, a study commissioned by England's Football Association said. An independent research study, jointly commissioned by the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), was conducted by the University of Nottingham, with their first findings peer reviewed and published.

Novartis' Sandoz wagers its standalone future on biosimilar success

Novartis' soon-to-be spun off generics division Sandoz is betting on biosimilars, copies of high-priced drugs used to treat illnesses such as rheumatoid arthritis and cancer, to fuel its future as a standalone company, executives said on Thursday.

Sandoz hosted its first-ever capital markets day in New York to make the case it has enough firepower it its pipeline to surmount the difficult global macroinflationary environment.

U.S. government sets penalties on 43 drugs over price hikes

The Biden administration on Friday announced it would impose inflation penalties on 43 drugs for the third quarter of 2023, having fined 27 earlier this year, in a move it said would lower costs for older Americans by as much as $449 per dose. Drugmakers hiked the price of these 43 drugs by more than the rate of inflation and are required to pay the difference of those medicines to Medicare, the federal health program for Americans over age 65.

Washington, New York breathe easier as smoke drifts further south

The mass of smoky air that choked New York, Washington and other U.S. cities earlier this week moderated on Friday as it drifted as far south as the Florida Panhandle, and conditions improved to "moderate" along most of the Eastern Seabord. The U.S. National Weather Service said air quality had improved in areas along the East Coast, but hazy skies and degraded air quality persisted in pockets of the mid-Atlantic, the Ohio Valley and Eastern Great Lakes region.

Exclusive-US seeks new suppliers of highly used cancer drug methotrexate in short supply

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday it is seeking new suppliers to ease shortages of methotrexate, one of the most commonly used cancer drugs, building on its push to shore up two other scarce chemotherapy medicines. An FDA spokesperson told Reuters the agency is looking for temporary importation options for the drug, which has been in shortage since March.

Walgreens reaches $500 million deal with New Mexico over opioid crisis

Walgreens Boots Alliance has agreed to pay $500 million to New Mexico to settle claims that its pharmacies helped fuel opioid addiction in the state by failing to stop illegal pill sales, lawyers for the state announced on Friday. The settlement, the largest obtained by New Mexico against a single company over opioids, came after a non-jury trial last year in the state's lawsuit against the company. The judge overseeing that trial had not yet ruled on the state's claims.

US FDA panel backs approval for Eisai-Biogen Alzheimer's drug Leqembi

A panel of expert advisers on Friday unanimously agreed that a late-stage trial of Eisai and Biogen's Alzheimer's drug Leqembi verified the benefit of the treatment for those at an early stage of the disease, clearing the way for traditional U.S. approval. All six advisers on the panel voted in favor of Leqembi for treatment of the mind-wasting illness.

India study estimates 11% of population is diabetic

Some 11% of Indians are diabetic, a government study found, adding that diabetes, hypertension and obesity are much more common in India than previously estimated. The study of more than 113,000 people also found that around 15% of Indians were pre-diabetic and around 35% have hypertension. It was conducted between October 2008 and December 2020 across 31 Indian states and territories.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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