Health News Roundup: India's Cipla Q3 profit tops estimates on North America sales boost; Cameroon rolls out the world's first malaria vaccine and more

COVID-19 vaccine maker BioNTech, which is renewing its focus on its traditional roots in oncology, said in a joint statement with China's Duality that their drug would be tested on women with a certain type of advanced breast cancer with low levels of a cell surface receptor known as HER2. World risks missing deadline for pandemic accord, says WHO chief Countries risk missing a May deadline for agreeing a legally binding treaty on fighting pandemics, which would be a big blow for future generations, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

India's Cipla Q3 profit tops estimates on North America sales boost

Indian generic drugmaker Cipla on Monday reported its third-quarter profit above analysts expectations, boosted by strong performances in North American and domestic markets. Consolidated net profit rose 32% to 10.56 billion Indian rupees ($127.1 million) in the quarter ended Dec. 31 from a year earlier, compared with average analysts' estimate of 10.43 billion rupees, according to LSEG data.

Factbox-Cameroon rolls out the world's first malaria vaccine

Cameroon launched the world's first routine vaccine programme against malaria on Monday. It is one of 20 African countries planning to introduce the drug this year, according to global vaccine alliance Gavi. Here are some key facts.

BioNTech challenges AstraZeneca with breast cancer precision drug trial

BioNTech and its partner Duality Biologics said on Monday they initiated a late-stage trial testing their precision drug against a certain type of breast cancer, taking on a rival partnership between AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo. COVID-19 vaccine maker BioNTech, which is renewing its focus on its traditional roots in oncology, said in a joint statement with China's Duality that their drug would be tested on women with a certain type of advanced breast cancer with low levels of a cell surface receptor known as HER2.

World risks missing deadline for pandemic accord, says WHO chief

Countries risk missing a May deadline for agreeing a legally binding treaty on fighting pandemics, which would be a big blow for future generations, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday. The new pact and a series of updates to existing rules on dealing with pandemics are intended to shore up the world's defences against new pathogens after the COVID-19 pandemic killed more than 7 million people, according to WHO data.

Sagimet's shares hit new high as fatty liver disease drug shows promise in study

Sagimet Biosciences said on Monday its experimental drug to treat a fatty liver disease significantly reduced the symptoms in a mid-stage study, sending the drug maker's shares to an all-time high in early morning trading. The drug, denifanstat, was administered to 168 metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH, formerly known as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis or NASH) patients with severe liver scarring, or cirrhosis, as part of the study.

Gilead's Trodelvy fails to meet main goal in lung cancer trial

Gilead Sciences said on Monday its drug, Trodelvy, failed to significantly improve survival for previously treated patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in a late-stage study, sending its shares down more than 10%. The California-based drugmaker was testing Trodelvy, which belongs to a class of treatments known as antibody drug conjugates, in patients with both squamous and non-squamous NSCLC - the most common type of lung cancer.

Fate of most remaining Zantac lawsuits weighed by Delaware judge

GSK, Pfizer and other pharmaceutical companies will urge a judge in Delaware this week to find that evidence plaintiffs' lawyers want to use in about 72,000 lawsuits claiming that the discontinued heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer is not supported by science. If they are successful, that could end much of the long-running litigation over the drug and greatly reduce the risk of hefty damage awards or settlements, which has weighed on companies' shares in recent years.

Ionis Pharma's genetic disease drug succeeds in late-stage study

Ionis Pharmaceuticals said on Monday its experimental drug reduced the occurrence of painful attacks in patients with a rare genetic disease that triggers frequent episodes of swelling. The life-threatening genetic disease called hereditary angioedema causes unpredictable and frequent severe swelling of the skin, gastrointestinal tract, upper respiratory system, face and throat.

Cameroon begins routine malaria shots in global milestone

The global fight against malaria took a stride forward on Monday as Cameroon started the world's first routine vaccine programme against the mosquito-borne disease, although Reuters journalists witnessed few people in clinics receiving the shot. Around 40 years in the making, the World Health Organization (WHO)-approved RTS,S vaccine developed by British drugmaker GSK is meant to work alongside existing tools such as bed nets to combat malaria, which in Africa kills nearly half a million children under the age of five each year.

EU drug watchdog to consider wider use of Wegovy weight-loss drug

The European Union's drug regulator will this week consider wider use of Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drug Wegovy to include reducing the risk of strokes and heart attacks. Approval could help the Danish drugmaker better argue its case for making the drug available via public sector health systems in Europe.

(With inputs from agencies.)