Health News Roundup: US FDA approves Novo Nordisk's Wegovy for lowering heart risks; Acadia to stop trials of antipsychotic drug after it fails schizophrenia study and more

The country will also improve early warning and relevant regulatory or legal systems, according to Wang Hesheng, a director at the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration. US FDA approves Novo Nordisk's Wegovy for lowering heart risks The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drug Wegovy on Friday for lowering the risk of stroke and heart attack in overweight or obese adults who do not have diabetes.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

China to increase number of response teams for new infectious diseases

China will increase the number of specialised teams tasked with responding to future infectious disease outbreaks by five to 25, its top health official has said. The country will also improve early warning and relevant regulatory or legal systems, according to Wang Hesheng, a director at the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration.

US FDA approves Novo Nordisk's Wegovy for lowering heart risks

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drug Wegovy on Friday for lowering the risk of stroke and heart attack in overweight or obese adults who do not have diabetes. Novo's widely used diabetes drug Ozempic and weight-loss drug Wegovy, both chemically known as semaglutide, belong to a class of drugs called GLP-1 agonists. Originally developed for type 2 diabetes, they also reduce food cravings and cause the stomach to empty more slowly.

Walgreens settles New York charges it grossly inflated prices of infant formula

Walgreens has settled charges by New York Attorney General Letitia James that it grossly inflated prices on at least 20 infant formula products after a recall by Abbott Labs led to a nationwide shortage in early 2022. The largest U.S. pharmacy chain did not admit or deny wrongdoing in entering an assurance of discontinuance with James' office, including a $50,000 payment covering civil penalties and costs, that was made public on Monday.

Acadia to stop trials of antipsychotic drug after it fails schizophrenia study

Acadia Pharmaceuticals said on Monday it does not plan to conduct further clinical trials of its antipsychotic drug, pimavanserin, after it failed to improve negative symptoms of schizophrenia in a late-stage study. Shares of the California-based company fell 16% in extended trading.

Novo Nordisk-owner to expand in India this year

Novo Holdings, the controlling shareholder of Danish obesity drugmaker Novo Nordisk, plans to open an office in India this year to tap innovation and a growing healthcare market, its CEO Kasim Kutay said on Tuesday. The firm, whose assets under management rose to 149 billion euros ($163 billion) at the end of 2023 from 108 billion a year earlier, manages a portfolio of 170 companies across life sciences and capital investments in equities, fixed-income assets, and real estate.

US FDA declines to approve Viatris's injection for multiple sclerosis

The U.S. FDA has declined to approve Viatris and Mapi Pharma's once-a-month injection for treating relapsing forms of debilitating neurological condition multiple sclerosis (MS), the companies said on Monday. The companies were reviewing the content of the health regulator's so called complete response letter (CRL) and would soon determine the appropriate next steps, they said, without disclosing further details.

Pfizer's blood cancer therapy Adcetris succeeds in late-stage trial

Pfizer said on Tuesday its drug, Adcetris, extended survival in patients with the most common type of lymphoma in a late-stage study, bolstering efforts to expand the use of the treatment gained through its $43 billion purchase of Seagen. The New York-based drugmaker last year struck a deal to acquire Seagen and its targeted cancer therapies to reinforce its pipeline in the face of a steep fall in COVID-19 product sales and generic competition for some top-selling drugs.

US officials urge UnitedHealth to expedite payments to providers

Officials from the U.S. government asked UnitedHealth Group to expedite payments to healthcare providers in an open letter on Sunday, after a hack of the insurer's Change Healthcare tech unit crippled medical claims and payments. Officials from the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services urged UnitedHealth (UHG)to take "responsibility to ensure no provider is compromised by their cash flow challenges stemming from this cyberattack on Change Healthcare."

US FDA staff raises concerns on Geron's blood disorder drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's staff reviewers said on Tuesday they were unclear if Geron's blood disorder drug provided a clear benefit to patients in a late-stage trial and raised multiple safety concerns with the treatment. Shares of the California-based company fell 11.5% following the release of the briefing documents, ahead of a meeting of the FDA's independent advisers scheduled for Thursday.

Global child mortality rates dropped in 2022 but progress slow, UN says

The number of children globally who died before their fifth birthday dropped to a record low of 4.9 million in 2022, but that still represents one death every six seconds, according to new United Nations estimates. While the mortality rate for under-5s has roughly halved since 2000, the world is still behind in the goal of reducing preventable deaths in that age group by 2030, and progress has slowed since 2015, the report, released on Wednesday, found.

(With inputs from agencies.)