Health News Roundup: GE HealthCare beats quarterly profit estimates on imaging device demand; GSK to pay $1 billion for exclusive license to J&J's hepatitis B therapy and more

The company last month said it would take a $5.6 billion one-time charge to account for U.S. government returns of millions of doses of its antiviral treatment Paxlovid, as well as inventory of COVID vaccine Comirnaty. FDA panel says Vertex/CRISPR to assess safety risks of gene therapy in follow-up study A panel of advisers to the U.S. health regulator said on Tuesday Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics could assess potential safety risks of their sickle cell disease gene therapy after approval.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

GE HealthCare beats quarterly profit estimates on imaging device demand

GE HealthCare Technologies Inc on Tuesday beat Wall Street expectations for third-quarter profit as a continued recovery in demand for surgical procedures boosted sales of its medical devices. Demand for medical devices has seen a surge following a sharp decline in COVID-19 infections as customers, particularly older adults, in the United States are returning to hospitals for procedures such as hip and knee replacements, and healthcare staffing shortages ease.

Cytokinetics exploring options after receiving takeover interest - Bloomberg News

Heart diseases-focused drug developer Cytokinetics is weighing options after receiving takeover interest, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The company has attracted interest from at least one major drugmaker in recent months, and is now evaluating its next steps, according to the report.

GSK to pay $1 billion for exclusive license to J&J's hepatitis B therapy

GSK will pay about $1 billion for exclusive rights to further develop and commercialize Johnson & Johnson's hepatitis B therapy, the British drugmaker said on Tuesday. JNJ-3989 was initially developed by Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals and licensed to Johnson & Johnson-owned Janssen in 2018.

Pfizer looks beyond COVID after quarterly loss on Paxlovid charge

Pfizer on Tuesday urged investors to focus on growth in non-COVID products such as the new RSV vaccine Abrysvo as slumping demand for COVID-19 vaccines and treatments pushed the drugmaker to its first quarterly loss since 2019. The company last month said it would take a $5.6 billion one-time charge to account for U.S. government returns of millions of doses of its antiviral treatment Paxlovid, as well as inventory of COVID vaccine Comirnaty.

FDA panel says Vertex/CRISPR to assess safety risks of gene therapy in follow-up study

A panel of advisers to the U.S. health regulator said on Tuesday Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics could assess potential safety risks of their sickle cell disease gene therapy after approval. If the therapy is approved, Vertex has proposed a 15-year follow up of patients to evaluate the safety outcomes of the therapy.

Bayer ordered to pay $332 million in Roundup cancer trial

A California jury on Tuesday found Bayer liable in a case brought by a man who claimed his cancer was due to exposure to the company's Roundup weed killer, and ordered it to pay $332 million in damages. The verdict includes $7 million in compensatory damages and $325 million in punitive damages awarded to plaintiff Mike Dennis, who was diagnosed at age 51 with a form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to a spokesperson for the company.

Judge blocks Kansas law requiring doctors to say medication abortion can be reversed

A judge in Kansas on Monday blocked a state law requiring healthcare providers to tell patients that medication abortion can be reversed and that abortion is linked to breast cancer while he considers a legal challenge to the law by abortion providers and Planned Parenthood. Judge K. Christopher Jayaram of the District Court of Johnson County said that the law, which was passed in April, violated doctors' right to free speech and patients' right to abortion, which the state's highest court recognized in 2019.

U.S. FDA approves Amgen's biosimilar version of J&J's psoriasis drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved Amgen's biosimilar version of Johnson & Johnson's blockbuster psoriasis treatment, Stelara, for multiple inflammatory diseases. Despite the FDA approval, Amgen's treatment is expected to be launched in 2025 as part of a legal settlement between the two companies earlier this year to delay the entry of the therapy.

China kicks off nationwide population survey amid declining birth rate

China will begin polling 1.4 million people on Wednesday in a survey on population changes, as authorities struggle to incentivise people to have more children amid a declining birth rate and the first population drop in more than six decades. The poll, which was announced on Oct. 10 in an unexpected move, will focus on urban and rural areas throughout the country. The survey will be based on a sample of 500,000 households and last for around two weeks until Nov. 15, China's National Bureau of Statistics said.

Ametek raises profit outlook, buys Paragon Medical in $1.9 billion deal

Ametek, which makes electronic instruments, raised its full-year forecast on Tuesday and announced its fifth and sixth acquisitions for 2023 as it expands into different markets and drives earnings growth. Ametek, whose instruments and equipment are used in industries ranging from aerospace to food packaging, said it would buy medical components maker Paragon Medical in a $1.9 billion deal and Amplifier Research for an undisclosed amount.