Health News Summary: FDA approves Stemline Therapeutics, More Google searches for #MeToo

Cuba says nearly all its doctors have returned from Brazil

Cuba's President Miguel Diaz-Canel said more than 90 per cent of the Cuban doctors who had been providing medical care in Brazil has returned home after his government ended a cooperation deal following a diplomatic row. Cuba's communist government pulled out of the program last month after far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro questioned the Cuban doctors' qualifications and said they were being used as "slave labour" because their country took 75 per cent of their salaries.

Anonymous patient data may not be as private as previously thought

For years, researchers have been studying medical conditions using huge swaths of patient data with identifying information removed to protect people's privacy. But a new study suggests hackers may be able to match "de-identified" health information to patient identities. In a test case described in JAMA Network Open, researchers used artificial intelligence to link health data with a medical record number. While the data in the test case was fairly innocuous - just the output of movement trackers like Fitbit - it suggests that de-identified data may not be so anonymous after all.

U.S. FDA approves Stemline Therapeutics' rare blood disease treatment

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Stemline Therapeutics Inc's Elzonris for the treatment of a rare blood disease in adults and children aged two years and above. This is the first approved treatment for the condition, blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN), Richard Pazdur, director of the FDA's Oncology Center of Excellence, said.

Signs of progress and challenges as more patients survive cancer

As a growing number of people live decades after a cancer diagnosis, doctors and scientists are developing treatment guidelines for survivors. But a U.S. report suggests more work is needed to improve the consistency and quality of survivorship care. It's been more than a decade since the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its seminal 2006 report on adult cancer survivors. The report galvanized the cancer care community, calling for a shift in thinking to focus not just on treating tumours but also on minimizing lifelong medical problems that can be caused by malignancies or by surgery, medication, and radiation.

Data on safety, the effectiveness of common acne drug unreliable, some researchers say

Isotretinoin, a drug for severe chronic acne, has long been linked to miscarriages, birth defects and other serious problems, but a research review suggests much of data on the drug's safety, effectiveness and side effects may be unreliable. The analysis in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews concludes that the available evidence is of such low quality that it's hard to say for sure how well isotretinoin works or how dangerous it may be.

The U.S. to help South Korea get flu drugs to the North despite stalled nuclear talks

The United States has agreed to help South Korea send flu medication to North Korea, a South Korean official said on Friday, after the United States said it would help deliver aid to the North despite stalled nuclear talks. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to work toward denuclearization at a landmark summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Singapore in June but the two sides have made little progress.

Salmonella outbreak linked to raw turkey leaves over 200 sick across the U.S.

More than 200 people from across the United States have fallen ill, 84 of them hospitalized, from an ongoing salmonella outbreak linked to raw turkey products that prompted a second voluntary recall on Friday, the U.S. government said. The latest food-safety advisory from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta came as millions of Americans planned their Christmas holiday menus, updating a notice for contaminated turkey issued in early November.

Alexion wins early U.S. approval for rare blood disorder drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved on Friday Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc's rare blood disorder drug Ultomiris, an early backing that also solidifies the company's dominant market position. The company's flagship drug, Soliris, was the lone FDA-approved treatment for the blood disorder, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), and raked in $3.13 billion last year, accounting for nearly 89 per cent of total revenue.

More Google searches for sexual harassment facts since #MeToo

Millions of Americans have searched Google for information on how to understand, prevent and report sexual harassment and assault since the start of the #MeToo movement more than a year ago, a U.S. study suggests. In October 2017, following public accusations of sexual harassment and assault against film producer Harvey Weinstein, actress Alyssa Milano encouraged victims to bring the taboo topic out of the shadows by sharing their own stories on social media. The resulting #MeToo movement resulted in widespread sharing on social media, and the new study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, offers fresh evidence that the movement has contributed to a shift in public thinking about these issues, said senior author John Ayers of the University of California, San Diego.

Merck KGaA-Pfizer to end late-stage ovarian cancer treatment study

Merck KGaA and Pfizer Inc said on Friday they were ending a late-stage study for their drug to treat a form of ovarian cancer in previously untreated patients. The results showed the drug, Bavencio, in combination with, or as a follow-on treatment to, platinum-based chemotherapy could not achieve the primary goal of progression-free survival in patients.