Health News Roundup: AstraZeneca's Imfinzi plus chemoradiotherapy fail main goal of late stage trial; US FDA warns Amazon against sale of unapproved eye drops and more

Shares of both companies have soared this year as Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Ozempic and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro and Zepbound have been shown to help control blood sugar and dramatically lower weight. Lawsuit claims UnitedHealth AI wrongfully denies elderly extended care UnitedHealth Group Inc uses an artificial intelligence algorithm that systematically denies elderly patients' claims for extended care such as nursing facility stays, according to a proposed class action lawsuit filed on Tuesday.

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.

US FDA warns Amazon against sale of unapproved eye drops

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday it had sent a warning letter to Amazon.com related to sale of seven unapproved eye drops on the company's e-commerce platform. In the letter dated Nov. 13, FDA said Amazon was selling eye drops which have not been recognized as safe and effective for providing temporary relief from eye symptoms such as excessive watery discharge, redness, burning, or pink eye.

Investors increase holdings of weight-loss drug makers' shares in Q3 -filings

Some big investors showed increased appetite for weight-loss drug makers in the third quarter, piling in to shares of Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk amid growing demand for their product, securities filings showed on Tuesday. Shares of both companies have soared this year as Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Ozempic and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro and Zepbound have been shown to help control blood sugar and dramatically lower weight.

Lawsuit claims UnitedHealth AI wrongfully denies elderly extended care

UnitedHealth Group Inc uses an artificial intelligence algorithm that systematically denies elderly patients' claims for extended care such as nursing facility stays, according to a proposed class action lawsuit filed on Tuesday. Family members of two now-deceased UnitedHealth beneficiaries sued the insurer in federal court in Minnesota, saying they were forced to pay out of pocket for care that doctors said was medically necessary.

Prison healthcare company restarts mediation after bankruptcy judge Jones quits

Prison healthcare company Tehum Care Services received court approval on Tuesday to proceed with a new mediator who will replace former bankruptcy judge David Jones, who resigned from the bench over his romantic relationship with an attorney involved in the negotiations. Tehum Care, which filed for bankruptcy in February to address prisoners' medical malpractice lawsuits against its corporate predecessor Corizon Health, had reached a mediated bankruptcy settlement which would have allocated roughly $8.5 million to settle prisoners' and former prisoners' claims.

Drugmaker Mallinckrodt emerges from bankruptcy

Drugmaker Mallinckrodt said on Tuesday it has emerged from bankruptcy and reduced its total funded debt by about $1.9 billion. Mallinckrodt, which won court approval for its bankruptcy plan last month, said it is moving ahead with ample liquidity to execute its strategic priorities.

Belgium bans use of Ozempic for weight loss until summer

Belgium has decided to temporarily ban the use of Novo Nordisk's diabetes drug Ozempic as a weight loss treatment amid a shortage of the medicine, according to a royal decree published in the country's Official Gazette on Tuesday. Ozempic is approved to treat Type 2 diabetes but has increasingly been prescribed "off-label" to treat weight loss because it has the same active ingredient as Novo's hugely popular - and scarce - anti-obesity drug Wegovy.

Pfizer to cut 500 jobs at UK site as part of wider cost cuts

Pfizer will cut 500 jobs at its Sandwich, Kent site in the U.K. as part of its $3.5 billion cost-cutting plan, the drugmaker said on Tuesday. The U.S. drugmaker announced the cost-cutting program in October after slashing its full-year revenue forecast due to lower-than-expected sales of its COVID-19 vaccine and treatment.

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.

Heat-related deaths could more than quadruple by mid-century -report

Heat-related illnesses and deaths are rising as the world warms, an international team of health experts said on Tuesday, forecasting a 370% surge in yearly heat deaths by mid-century if the world warms by 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. Already, at roughly 1.1C (2F) of warming, people experienced about 86 days of health-threatening high temperatures on average in 2022, the report from the Lancet medical journal found.