Health News Roundup: Big Pharma bets on AI to speed up clinical trials; More bumps in the road to wiping out polio - report and more

EPA sampled soil for lead near telecommunications cables in the Pennsylvania towns of Coal Center and California. US makes 30 states pause Medicaid disenrollments after glitch The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Thursday said 30 states must pause disenrollments from their Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) programs and reinstate coverage for people who lost it due to a glitch uncovered in August.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Big Pharma bets on AI to speed up clinical trials

Major drugmakers are using artificial intelligence to find patients for clinical trials quickly, or to reduce the number of people needed to test medicines, both accelerating drug development and potentially saving millions of dollars. Human studies are the most expensive and time-consuming part of drug development as it can take years to recruit patients and trial new medicines in a process that can cost over a billion dollars from the discovery of a drug to the finishing line.

More bumps in the road to wiping out polio - report

The global effort to end polio is likely to miss two key targets this year on the path towards defeating the virus, according to an independent strategic review. The aim in 2023 was to interrupt the transmission of wild polio in the two countries where it is still endemic, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and do the same for a variant form of polio known as "vaccine-derived" that is causing outbreaks elsewhere.

Britain's Superdrug to stop selling single-use vapes

British pharmacy chain Superdrug will stop selling single-use vapes, the company announced on Friday, citing the environmental impact caused by their disposal and the popularity of the products among young people. Nearly five million disposable vapes are thrown away every week in Britain according to research by non-governmental organisation Material Focus and YouGov. The vapes, many of which contain lithium-ion batteries, frequently end up in landfill.

Analysis-DeSantis embraces risky abortion stance to draw contrast with Trump

As Ron DeSantis' path to the Republican presidential nomination appears to be narrowing, the Florida governor has decided to go all-in on perhaps his most divisive and potentially toxic policy stance: support of a six-week abortion ban. A hardline position on abortion is fraught with political risk. Polls show that a majority of Americans favor making the procedure available early in the pregnancy, and some major donors are worried that DeSantis' viewpoint will sink his chances with moderate voters next year.

Alabama seeks to execute prisoner using nitrogen gas asphyxiation

The Supreme Court of Alabama is weighing whether to allow the state to become the first to execute a prisoner with a novel method: asphyxiation using nitrogen gas. Last month, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall asked the court to allow the state to proceed with gassing Kenneth Smith, who was convicted of murder in 1996, using a face mask connected to a cylinder of nitrogen intended to deprive him of oxygen.

AstraZeneca and Daiichi's breast cancer drug meets goal in study

AstraZeneca said on Friday its experimental precision drug had slowed the progression of a common type of breast cancer in a late-stage trial, a boost for the company after its shares fell in July on results from a separate trial of the same drug for lung cancer. The drug, datopotamab deruxtecan, which AstraZeneca is jointly developing with Japan's Daiichi Sankyo, is being closely watched by analysts and investors in part due to the promise of the class of drugs to which it belongs, known as antibody drug conjugates (ADC).

US EPA says no immediate lead health threats from telecom cables

The U.S. environmental regulator said Thursday soil sampling for lead in two Pennsylvania towns near telecommunications cables indicate "no threats to the health of people nearby that would warrant" an immediate government response, despite some findings of the pollutant. The Environmental Protection Agency testing was prompted by an investigation by the Wall Street Journal of lead covered telecommunications cables across the United States. EPA sampled soil for lead near telecommunications cables in the Pennsylvania towns of Coal Center and California.

US makes 30 states pause Medicaid disenrollments after glitch

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Thursday said 30 states must pause disenrollments from their Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) programs and reinstate coverage for people who lost it due to a glitch uncovered in August. Medicaid, the federal/state health program for low income people and families, said nearly 500,000 children and other individuals that lost coverage due to a problem affecting automatic renewals will regain their insurance.

California sues organizations for touting abortion pill reversal

California on Thursday sued two anti-abortion organizations for telling patients that they can help reverse the effects of the abortion pill mifepristone, a potentially dangerous claim not supported by evidence. In a complaint filed in Alameda County Superior Court, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, accused Heartbeat International (HBI) and RealOptions Obria of violating a state law against fraudulent business practices.

Merck, Eisai's combination therapy fails in lung cancer studies

Drugmakers Merck and Eisai said on Friday a combination of their cancer therapies did not prolong the lives of patients in two late-stage studies testing it as a treatment for a type of lung cancer. The pairing of Merck's blockbuster immunotherapy Keytruda and Eisai's Lenvima has previously failed in studies evaluating it in patients with types of head-and-neck cancer, skin cancer and colon cancer as well.