Health News Roundup: CDC says JN.1 variant accounts for about 86% of COVID cases in US; World risks missing deadline for pandemic accord, says WHO chief and more

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. 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%.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

CDC says JN.1 variant accounts for about 86% of COVID cases in US

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday estimated COVID subvariant JN.1 to account for about 85.7% of cases in the United States, as of Jan. 19. The agency said JN.1 remains the most widely circulating variant of SARS-CoV-2 in the country and globally.

US FDA seeks 'boxed warning' for CAR-T cancer therapies

The U.S. health regulator said on Monday companies will be required to add a serious warning on the prescribing information for cancer therapies known as CAR-T, made by Gilead Sciences, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis and others. The other cancer therapies include Bristol Myers Squibb's Breyanzi and its partnered therapy, Abecma, with 2seventy bio, J&J unit Janssen and Legend Biotech's Carvykti, Novartis AG's Kymriah, and Gilead unit Kite's Tecartus and Yescarta.

France's Sanofi boosts rare disease business with about $2.2 billion Inhibrx deal

French healthcare company Sanofi has agreed to buy U.S. biotech firm Inhibrx in a deal valued at up to $2.2 billion, bolstering its drug development portfolio with an experimental treatment for a rare genetic disease. The companies said the deal will give Sanofi access to Inhibrx's INBRX-101, currently in the second of three phases of clinical trials, while its other experimental drugs will be spun off into a separate company, with Sanofi retaining an 8% stake.

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.

J&J profit beats as biosimilar delays power Stelara demand

Johnson & Johnson on Tuesday reported fourth-quarter profit and revenue just above Wall Street expectations, helped by strong demand for blockbuster psoriasis treatment Stelara. A key patent for Stelara had expired in the United States last year but J&J struck deals with competitors to delay the launches of their biosimilars until 2025.

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.

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 are urging 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.

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.