Health News Roundup: China reports new African swine fever outbreaks; Scientists to test tailor-made vaccine tech to fight epidemics

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Gilead Sciences to hire Roche executive O'Day as new CEO: source

Drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc will name Roche Holding AG executive Daniel O'Day as its new chief executive officer, according to a source familiar with the matter. The announcement of O'Day's hiring could come as early as Monday, the source said.

Exclusive: Dutch hospitals to drop U.S. body brokers, cite ethical concerns

Two major Dutch hospitals say they will stop importing human body parts from American firms, which they have been doing without any regulation for a decade. The hospitals told Reuters in recent weeks they made their decisions on ethical grounds. The move comes amid investigations by U.S. law enforcement into some so-called body brokers - companies that obtain the dead, often through donation, dissect them and sell the parts for profit.

China reports new African swine fever outbreaks in Shaanxi, Guizhou provinces

China's agriculture ministry said on Monday two new African swine fever outbreaks were reported in Shaanxi and Guizhou provinces. The new case in Shenmu city of Shaanxi province killed 19 of 33 pigs present on a farm, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said in a statement on its website.

Scientists to test tailor-made vaccine tech to fight epidemics

A global coalition set up to fight disease epidemics is investing up to $8.4 million to develop a synthetic vaccine system that could be tailor-made to fight multiple pathogens such as flu, Ebola, Marburg and Rabies. The deal, between the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and a team of scientists at Britain's Imperial College London is aimed at progressing a "vaccine platform" which uses synthetic self-amplifying RNA (saRNA).

(With inputs from Reuters)