Health News Roundup: AstraZeneca's Imfinzi plus chemoradiotherapy fail main goal of late stage trial; Novo Nordisk shares rise as Wegovy shows heart benefits beyond weight loss and more

The decision follows discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Bayer said in a statement. EU regulator backs GSK's bone marrow cancer therapy British drugmaker GSK on Monday said the human medicines committee of the European Medicines Agency had recommended approving its oral therapy to treat anaemia in patients with a type of bone marrow cancer called myelofibrosis.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

AstraZeneca's Imfinzi plus chemoradiotherapy fail main goal of late stage trial

Drugmaker AstraZeneca said on Tuesday its cancer drug Imfinzi given along with chemoradiotherapy (CRT) failed to meet its main goal in a late-stage trial to treat unresectable, Stage 3 non-small cell lung cancer. Imfinzi administered sequentially after platinum-based CRT is already an established standard of care for the treatment of that type of lung cancer.

Novo Nordisk shares rise as Wegovy shows heart benefits beyond weight loss

Novo Nordisk shares rose 3% on Monday as the market reacted to data the drugmaker presented over the weekend showing that the heart protective benefits of its popular obesity drug Wegovy are not solely due to weight loss. The data presented on Saturday at a major medical meeting in the United States gave investors and analysts even more confidence in the cardiac benefits of Wegovy after Novo released preliminary data in August from its large study, sending its shares soaring 17% on the day to record highs.

Wegovy's heart benefits due to more than weight loss, Novo says

Novo Nordisk on Saturday said the heart protective benefits of its wildly popular Wegovy obesity treatment are due to more than weight loss alone, according to new data presented at a major medical meeting on Saturday. Early data from the Danish drugmaker's Select trial released in August demonstrated that Wegovy, which has been shown to help patients lose an average of 15% of their weight, also reduced incidence of heart attack, stroke or death from heart disease by 20%.

Healthcare execs expect M&A activity to rise again in 2024 -survey

Merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the global healthcare sector should continue to rise next year, led by healthcare companies rather than private equity, according to a survey of industry executives. The report, published by investment bank Jefferies on Tuesday, surveyed 600 senior leaders in the sector. It found 68% of respondents expected the volume of deals in healthcare to rise in 2024, with 60% believing companies within the sector will dominate the transactions.

Critically ill British girl dies after life support removed - family

Indi Gregory, a critically ill eight-month-old baby girl from Britain who was taken off life support over the weekend following a legal battle, has died overnight, her family said on Monday. Gregory's parents lost a legal fight last month to keep her on life-support machines and have her transferred to a Vatican children's hospital in Rome.

Add chickenpox vaccine to UK child immunisation programme -vaccine advisors

Britain should add the chickenpox vaccine to its routine childhood immunisation programme, the government's vaccine advisory body said on Tuesday. The recommendation would bring the UK in line with many other countries, like the United States and Germany, which routinely vaccinate children against the illness.

Accord Healthcare resumes production of cancer drug cisplatin amid shortages

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Monday that Accord Healthcare has resumed manufacturing of commonly used cancer drug cisplatin against the backdrop of ongoing drug shortages in the United States. Cisplatin is a type of chemotherapy drug used alone or in combination with other drugs to treat several advanced forms of cancer, including bladder, ovarian and testicular cancer.

Aclaris shares plummet on terminating development of rheumatoid arthritis drug

Aclaris Therapeutics on Monday said it would stop development of its rheumatoid arthritis treatment after it failed in a mid-stage trial, sending its shares plunging 84% before the bell. The trial tested two doses of the drug, zunsemetinib, along with anti-rheumatic drug methotrexate compared to placebo and methotrexate in patients with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis who have inadequate response to methotrexate alone.

Bayer withdraws follicular lymphoma drug after further trial fails

Bayer on Monday said it would voluntarily withdraw the follicular lymphoma drug Aliqopa, also known as copanlisib, from the U.S. market after a trial designed to confirm its benefit did not show the desired effect on overall survival. The decision follows discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Bayer said in a statement.

EU regulator backs GSK's bone marrow cancer therapy

British drugmaker GSK on Monday said the human medicines committee of the European Medicines Agency had recommended approving its oral therapy to treat anaemia in patients with a type of bone marrow cancer called myelofibrosis. A decision for the marketing authorization of the therapy, momelotinib, is expected by early 2024, GSK said in a statement.