Health News Roundup: South Carolina top court appears open to upholding new abortion ban; French bird flu wave ends after 10 million birds culled and more

The case involved law enforcement officials from the Justice Department's fraud division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services. Canada invests C$35 million in medical isotopes for cancer treatment, imaging The Canadian government on Tuesday announced an investment of up to C$35 million ($26.6 million) to bolster the development and production of medical isotopes in the country.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

South Carolina top court appears open to upholding new abortion ban

South Carolina's highest court on Tuesday appeared open to upholding a new state law banning abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy, months after it blocked a similar ban. Abortion providers, led by Planned Parenthood, last month won a court order temporarily blocking the law from taking effect until their lawsuit challenging it could be heard by the South Carolina Supreme Court.

French bird flu wave ends after 10 million birds culled

A wave of bird flu outbreaks in France last month has come to a halt after the culling of 10 million birds this season, the farm ministry said on Wednesday, as it confirmed it would launch vaccination against the virus in the autumn. France has been among countries worst affected by the unprecedented spread of avian influenza - commonly called bird flu - that has killed hundreds of millions of birds in the past two years, disrupting supply of poultry meat and eggs.

US FDA declines to approve Regeneron's higher-dose Eylea, shares tumble

U.S. health regulators on Tuesday declined to approve a higher-dose version of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals' drug Eylea for treatment of a disease that is leading cause of blindness among the elderly, the company said as shares fell on the setback to its effort to defend the blockbuster treatment against a fast-gaining rival. Regeneron's shares closed down 8.6% at $715.9.

EU must prevent medical devices for children from disappearing, say doctors groups

Brussels must act to prevent essential medical devices for children from disappearing in the European Union in the next year, by correcting a new law that is inadvertently causing the problem, the European Academy of Paediatrics warned on Tuesday. The academy and 22 other medical associations wrote that the unintended consequences of the law will likely harm children's health in a June 27 letter to EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides.

J&J's $8.9 billion talc settlement faces US bankruptcy test

Johnson & Johnson's proposed $8.9 billion settlement of thousands of lawsuits alleging that its talc products cause cancer faces a crucial hurdle this week as a U.S. bankruptcy judge in New Jersey considers whether or not a J&J subsidiary may resolve them by filing for bankruptcy a second time. J&J subsidiary LTL Management's first attempt to do that was dismissed in April after a U.S. appeals court ruled that it was not in sufficient financial distress to be eligible for bankruptcy protection.

U.S. to announce action in $2.6 billion health care fraud -statement

The U.S. Justice Department will on Wednesday announce results of a nationwide health care fraud and opioid enforcement action against 87 people in 14 districts involving more than $2.6 billion in fraud, the department said in a statement. The announcement will take place at 11 a.m. (1500 GMT) at department headquarters, it said. The case involved law enforcement officials from the Justice Department's fraud division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Canada invests C$35 million in medical isotopes for cancer treatment, imaging

The Canadian government on Tuesday announced an investment of up to C$35 million ($26.6 million) to bolster the development and production of medical isotopes in the country. Medical isotopes are radioactive substances used in diagnostic imaging and treatment of health conditions such as heart diseases and cancer. They are produced using nuclear reactors and particle accelerators.

Bayer claims early lead in Parkinson's stem cell therapy

Bayer subsidiary BlueRock has become the first company to report initial success treating Parkinson's disease in humans using an experimental stem cell therapy, the drugmaker said on Wednesday. The hunt for Parkinson's treatments has seen many setbacks over decades.

Pfizer-OPKO's growth hormone drug gets US approval in kids

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Pfizer Inc and partner OPKO Health Inc's treatment for growth hormone deficiency in children, the companies said on Wednesday.

The approval, which comes after an initial rejection from the FDA in January last year, lifted Pfizer's shares marginally and Opko Health's nearly 19% in premarket trading.

Exclusive-Indian firm used toxic industrial-grade ingredient in syrup - sources

The Indian manufacturer of cough syrups that Uzbekistan said last year had poisoned 19 children used a toxic industrial-grade ingredient rather than the legitimate pharmaceutical version, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The company, Marion Biotech, bought the ingredient — propylene glycol (PG) — from trader Maya Chemtech India, as reported by Reuters. But Maya did not have a licence to sell pharmaceutical-grade materials and "dealt in industrial-grade only," according to a source at the firm with knowledge of the Marion investigation.