Health News Roundup: WHO says toxic syrup risk 'ongoing', more countries hit; Meta rolls back measures to tackle COVID misinformation and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

UAE, Israel foster trade ties with new health agreement

Israel and the United Arab Emirates on Friday signed a health agreement between the UAE's largest health player and Israeli's largest hospital, as the two sides seek to draw economic benefits from their almost three-year relationship.

PureHealth and Sheba Medical Center said they would cooperate on research, medical tourism, training and medical technology, under the memorandum of understanding.

Musk expects brain chip start-up Neuralink to implant 'first case' this year

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk expects his brain-chip startup Neuralink to start its first human trial this year, he said on Friday in France. Speaking at the VivaTech event in Paris, co-founder Musk said Neuralink plans to implant a tetraplegic or paraplegic patient during a webcast monitored by Reuters. While Musk didn't specify how many patients his company would implant or for how long, "it's looking like the first case will be later this year," said Musk, who is also CEO of electric carmaker Tesla, social media platform Twitter and the SpaceX rocket launch company.

Humana joins UnitedHealth in flagging cost hit from rising surgeries

Humana Inc on Friday joined larger health insurer UnitedHealth in warning of a jump in medical costs this year due to higher-than-expected demand for surgeries and other medical procedures. Pandemic-driven restrictions and hospital staffing shortages had led to long delays in elective procedures such as hip and knee replacements, especially among older adults at higher risk of contracting severe COVID-19.

Meta rolls back measures to tackle COVID misinformation

Meta Platforms said on Friday a policy that was put in place to curb the spread of misinformation related to COVID-19 on Facebook and Instagram would no longer be in effect globally.

Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter came under immense pressure to tackle misinformation related to the pandemic, including false claims about vaccines, prompting them to take stringent measures.

Roche's cancer therapy gets US FDA nod, heating up competition with AbbVie

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) greenlighted Roche Holding AG's experimental therapy to treat a type of advanced blood cancer, nearly a month after the approval of a rival therapy from AbbVie Inc. Roche's Columvi, an antibody-based therapy chemically known as glofitamab, was approved to treat diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in adults, who had received at least two prior lines of treatment before their cancer relapsed, the Swiss drugmaker said late on Thursday.

Biden taps former N.Carolina health secretary to head CDC

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday tapped former North Carolina health secretary Mandy Cohen to lead the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an agency that was in the forefront of the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cohen will replace Rochelle Walensky, who is stepping down on June 30 as head of the public health agency, which critics have said was slow to respond to the pandemic.

EU 'deeply concerned' by risks of new psychoactive drugs - report

A surge in production of potent new drugs in Europe that can lead to poisoning and death requires more investment in services and stronger policies against illicit substances, an EU study said on Friday. The report by the Lisbon-based EU drugs agency (EMCDDA) said the scale and complexity of illicit drug output within Europe was growing and that users were now exposed to a wider range of psychoactive substances.

Exclusive-WHO says toxic syrup risk 'ongoing', more countries hit

There is an ongoing global threat posed by toxic cough syrups, the World Health Organization (WHO) told Reuters, saying it was now working with six more countries than previously revealed to track the potentially deadly children's medicines. The U.N. agency has already named nine countries where tainted syrups may have been on sale, after the deaths of more than 300 infants on three continents last year were linked to the drugs.

US FDA advises COVID vaccine makers to develop shots aimed at XBB.1.5 variant

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Friday it has advised manufacturers that are updating their COVID-19 vaccines to develop monovalent shots to target the XBB.1.5 subvariant. So-called monovalent, or single-target vaccines, would be a change from the most recent bivalent COVID boosters that targeted both the original and Omicron strains of the coronavirus.

Eli Lilly's migraine drug fails to prove superiority to Pfizer's

Eli Lilly said on Friday its migraine prevention drug failed to show superiority to a rival from Pfizer Inc in a post-approval study. The three-month study, which involved 580 patients, was the first-of-its-kind to compare the two approved drugs - Emgality and Nurtec, a drug Pfizer gained last year through an $11.6 billion acquisition of Biohaven Pharmaceutical.