Breaking Health News: Innovations, Controversies, and Legal Battles

This summary of recent health news highlights significant developments, from Moderna and Merck's promising skin cancer vaccine to legal challenges faced by GSK and Johnson & Johnson. Additional topics include Dr. Fauci addressing COVID-19 origins, Finland's reduction in teenage abortions, and advances in neurological and avian disease research.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Moderna-Merck skin cancer vaccine shows survival benefit in long-term follow-up

Moderna and partner Merck & Co said on Monday their cancer vaccine in combination with blockbuster cancer therapy Keytruda improved survival and showed durable efficacy in a mid-stage study in patients with a deadly form of skin cancer. Detailed data on Monday from the 157-patient trial showed that after two and a half years, melanoma patients that had received the cancer vaccine combination showed an overall survival rate of 96%, compared with 90.2% with Keytruda alone.

Fauci denies suppressing COVID lab leak theory before US House panel

Former top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci strongly denied suppressing the theory that COVID-19 originated from a lab leak in China, telling lawmakers he never influenced research on the origins of the virus. In his first time addressing the allegations publicly since a 14-hour hearing held behind closed doors in January, Fauci also reiterated that he believes the most likely origin of the pandemic was animal-to-human transmission.

GSK shares tumble 9% after 70,000 Zantac lawsuits allowed to proceed

Shares of GSK dropped more than 9% on Monday, after a Delaware judge allowed more than 70,000 lawsuits alleging its discontinued heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer, to go forward, in a blow for the British drugmaker. GSK said it disagreed with the ruling and would immediately appeal. Its shares were down 9.4% at 16 pounds by 1052 GMT, on course for their worst day since August 2022, with the drop wiping out nearly 7 billion pounds ($8.90 billion) of the company's market value.

J&J must pay $260 million in latest talc trial, Oregon jury says

Johnson & Johnson must pay $260 million to an Oregon woman who said she got mesothelioma, a deadly cancer linked to asbestos exposure, from inhaling the company's talc powder, a jury found on Monday. The verdict in the 4th Judicial District Circuit Court in Portland comes as the company continues to pursue a proposed $6.48 billion settlement of most talc-related lawsuits against it through a prepackaged bankruptcy. The jury's award includes $60 million in compensatory damages and $200 million in punitive damages, and includes damages for both the plaintiff and her husband.

Free contraception helps Finland reduce teenage abortions by 66%

The number of teenage abortions in Finland fell by 66% between 2000 and 2023, its public health institute THL said on Monday, attributing the reduction to the offer of free contraception to adolescents and compulsory sex education in schools. Finland also passed a law in 2022 liberalising abortion, at a time of deep divisions over abortion rights in Europe and court rulings in the U.S. that restricted access to terminations of unwanted pregnancies for millions of people there.

Edwards to sell critical care products unit to Becton Dickinson for $4.2 billion

Edwards Lifesciences on Monday said it has agreed to sell its critical care products unit to Becton Dickinson in an all-cash deal valued at $4.2 billion to sharpen focus on its heart devices business. Edwards is no longer pursuing the planned spin-off of the critical care unit, which develops and sells advanced blood and heart monitoring systems that are used in surgical and intensive care settings, announced in April.

US FDA advisers to consider if new COVID shots should target JN.1 variant

Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will vote whether to recommend that COVID-19 vaccines for 2024-25 should target the JN.1 variant, the most dominant this year, documents filed on Monday showed. Shares of Novavax soared 11% in morning trade, after the documents were released. The company had said last month it would only be able to offer a COVID vaccine in the United States this autumn if regulators accept the shot it started manufacturing to target the JN.1 variant.

FDA panel to review psychedelic drug MDMA for first time

A panel of advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will meet on Tuesday to discuss a therapy based on the psychedelic drug MDMA for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The meeting by the agency's independent experts is the farthest that a drug based on MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy or molly, has ever reached in the FDA regulatory process for approval.

Annexon's neurological disease drug meets main goal of late-stage study

Annexon said on Tuesday its experimental drug helped improve motor functions like standing and walking in patients with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a neurological disease that can cause paralysis and even death. Shares of the company jumped 31% to $6 in premarket trading, after its drug met the main goal of a late-stage study.

H7 bird flu found on third poultry farm in Australia

Highly pathogenic avian influenza has been detected at a third poultry farm near Melbourne, but it is not the same strain that has spread globally and raised fears of human transmission, the Victoria state government said on Wednesday. Hundreds of thousands of birds have already been destroyed after bird flu was found at two Australian egg farms last month.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)