Health News Roundup: AstraZeneca calls off two late-stage potassium drug trials; More than 11,000 turkeys culled after bird flu found on German farm and more

Health authorities have not detected any unusual or novel pathogens, the WHO later said, and doctors and public health researchers say there is no evidence for international alarm. Novo Nordisk finds compounded Wegovy up to 33% impure, sues Florida pharmacies Novo Nordisk said on Thursday it sued one compounding pharmacy and refiled a lawsuit against another after finding their products claiming to contain the active ingredient for its in-demand weight-loss drug Wegovy were impure, some by as much as 33%.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

AstraZeneca calls off two late-stage potassium drug trials

AstraZeneca is calling off two late-stage trials into the potential benefits of its potassium-reduction drug Lokelma in treating a chronic condition called hyperkalemia in people with various heart and kidney diseases. "The decision to discontinue the trials is not due to safety concerns and the positive benefit-risk of Lokelma does not change in the approved indication," AstraZeneca said in a statement on Friday.

More than 11,000 turkeys culled after bird flu found on German farm

About 11,500 Turkeys have been culled after an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu on a farm in east Germany, German authorities said on Friday. The disease was confirmed on a farm in Ostprignitz-Ruppin in the eastern state of Brandenburg, the Brandenburg state health ministry said.

Explainer-What do we know about China’s respiratory illness surge?

A request by the World Health Organization for more information on a surge in respiratory illnesses and clusters of pneumonia in children in China has attracted global attention. Health authorities have not detected any unusual or novel pathogens, the WHO later said, and doctors and public health researchers say there is no evidence for international alarm.

Novo Nordisk finds compounded Wegovy up to 33% impure, sues Florida pharmacies

Novo Nordisk said on Thursday it sued one compounding pharmacy and refiled a lawsuit against another after finding their products claiming to contain the active ingredient for its in-demand weight-loss drug Wegovy were impure, some by as much as 33%. The Danish drugmaker said it found impurities in all the drugs tested from Wells Pharmacy and Brooksville Pharmaceuticals, both based in Florida. Novo first sued Brooksville in July, and discovered a substance called BPC-157 in samples from Wells.

World at risk of losing malaria fight as cases rise, report says

The world is in danger of losing the fight against malaria, as cases of the disease rose by around 5 million year-on-year in 2022, exceeding global targets to contain it, a new World Health Organization report showed on Thursday. Pandemic-related disruptions and extreme weather events linked to climate change have hindered the fight against malaria in recent years.

COVID-19 shrinks life expectancy in S.Korea for first time since 1970

Babies born in South Korea last year are expected to live 82.7 years, down from 83.6 years in 2021, the statistics agency said on Friday, after life expectancy fell in 2022 for the first time since 1970, hit by a spike in deaths linked to COVID-19. Following a global trend of such declines over the past few years, the OECD grouping said last month that average life expectancy had dipped 0.7 years across its 39 member nations between 2019 and 2021.

UK's data regulator resists call to investigate China's BGI over genomic concerns

Britain's data regulator has resisted calls from lawmakers to investigate the prenatal tests of a Chinese gene company over how it handles the genomic data of consumers, letters reviewed by Reuters show. Reuters has previously reported China's BGI Group was collecting genetic data from millions of women for research on the traits of populations using tests developed in collaboration with the country's military.

Pfizer is sued by Texas over COVID vaccine claims

Pfizer has been sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who on Thursday accused the drugmaker of misrepresenting the efficacy of its widely-used COVID-19 vaccine. In a complaint filed in a Lubbock County state court, Paxton said it was misleading for Pfizer to claim its vaccine was 95% effective because it offered a "relative risk reduction" for people to who took it.

EU watchdog seeks more data from GLP-1 drugmakers on suicidal thoughts

The EU's drug watchdog will request more data from makers of a class of diabetes and weight-loss drugs including Novo Nordisk's popular therapies Ozempic and Wegovy to further investigate suicidal thoughts in some patients taking them. "While at this point no conclusion can be drawn on a causal association, there are several issues that still need to be clarified," the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said in a statement on Friday.

Pfizer drops twice daily obesity pill as patients struggle with side effects

Pfizer said on Friday it would not advance a twice-daily version of oral weight-loss drug danuglipron into late-stage studies after most patients dropped out of a mid-stage trial with high rates of side effects such as nausea and vomiting. While Pfizer will now focus on a once-daily version, the decision still marks a blow to its ambitions to become an early contender in a booming market for weight-loss drugs that analysts have forecast could be worth $100 billion by the end of the decade.