Health News Roundup: Soccer-Peru says no Guillain-Barre risk for Corinthians players; AIDS can be ended by 2030 with investments in prevention and treatment, UN says and more

The responses seen in patients treated with Caribou's CAR T-cell therapy, which uses stem cells from a donor, rival those seen in patients treated with approved CAR T-cell therapy where patients' own stem cells are harvested, the company said. Explainer-What is aspartame and what do the new WHO rulings on cancer and consumption mean? Aspartame, a popular artificial sweetener found in Diet Coke, chewing gum, yoghurt and other food products, is a "possible carcinogen" but it remains safe to consume at the existing daily intake guidelines, according to new rulings from two different World Health Organization-linked groups.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Soccer-Peru says no Guillain-Barre risk for Corinthians players

Peru's health ministry said on Thursday that Corinthians are not at risk of contracting Guillain-Barre syndrome when they visit the country next week after the coach of the Brazilian team voiced concerns about playing in Lima. Corinthians are scheduled to play the second leg of their Copa Sudamericana tie against Universitario on Tuesday in Peru, where a sanitary emergency was declared due to an unusual increase in cases of the disease.

AIDS can be ended by 2030 with investments in prevention and treatment, UN says

It is possible to end AIDS by 2030 if countries demonstrate the political will to invest in prevention and treatment and adopt non-discriminatory laws, the United Nations said on Thursday. In 2022, an estimated 39 million people around the world were living with HIV, according to UNAIDS, the United Nations AIDS program. HIV can progress to AIDS if left untreated.

Caribou's cell therapy shows promise in early-stage cancer study

Caribou Biosciences Inc said on Thursday its experimental CAR T-cell therapy helped clear all signs or decrease tumor size in 94% of patients being treated for a type of cancer in the lymph nodes in a small, early-stage trial. The responses seen in patients treated with Caribou's CAR T-cell therapy, which uses stem cells from a donor, rival those seen in patients treated with approved CAR T-cell therapy where patients' own stem cells are harvested, the company said.

Explainer-What is aspartame and what do the new WHO rulings on cancer and consumption mean?

Aspartame, a popular artificial sweetener found in Diet Coke, chewing gum, yoghurt and other food products, is a "possible carcinogen" but it remains safe to consume at the existing daily intake guidelines, according to new rulings from two different World Health Organization-linked groups. WHAT IS ASPARTAME?

Factbox-Agents and substances categorized as carcinogenic to humans

Aspartame, the artificial sweetener used in products from Coca-Cola's diet sodas to Mars' Extra chewing gum, is the latest substance to be declared a possible carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Carcinogens are substances that have the potential to cause cancer to humans. According to the IARC, there are four different levels of classifications - carcinogenic, probably carcinogenic, possibly carcinogenic and not classifiable.

Uninsured US patients pay up to $330 for Eli Lilly’s $25 insulin, Senator Warren says

Americans without health insurance pay an average of $98 for Eli Lilly’s generic insulin despite the company’s May 1 pledge to cut its list price to $25 per vial, according to a survey of more than 300 U.S. pharmacies by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s office released on Thursday. Warren’s survey of chain and independent pharmacies across all 50 states, carried out between June 9 and 28, found a third of drug stores charged $164 or more to uninsured patients for Lilly’s Insulin Lispro. The highest-priced pharmacy wanted $330.

FDA approves first over-the-counter birth control pill in US

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved the first over-the-counter contraceptive pill, paving the way for millions of women in the country to purchase birth control without prescription. The approval comes as more states ban abortion following a ruling by the Supreme Court last year that overturned the Roe v. Wade decision to legalize the procedure nationwide.

WHO cancer arm deems aspartame 'possible carcinogen'; consumption limits unchanged

The sweetener aspartame is a "possible carcinogen" but it remains safe to consume at already-agreed levels, two groups linked to the World Health Organization (WHO) declared on Friday. The rulings are the outcome of two separate WHO expert panels, one of which flags whether there is any evidence that a substance is a potential hazard, and the other which assesses how much of a real-life risk that substance actually poses.

US lawmakers make bipartisan push for psychedelics research in defense bill

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers on Thursday pushed to include a provision allowing medical research of psychedelic drugs as part of a sweeping annual defense policy bill, saying it could help treat post-traumatic stress disorder and other ailments despite possible concerns. "These are powerful substances, I don't want to give that short shrift," Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who first sponsored a bill on the topic in 2019, told a Capitol Hill press conference. "But they also have powerful potential as well."

US govt tells vaccine makers to price updated COVID shots reasonably

COVID vaccine makers should price their updated shots for the fall at a reasonable rate that would reflect the benefits they received through government investments, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said on Thursday.

The U.S. government will also launch a $1 billion "Bridge Access Program" for this fall, to help those without insurance and the underinsured to continue getting vaccines and treatments at no cost.