Health News Roundup: Aspirin lowers heart attack risk but raises dangerous bleeding risk; J&J, US states settle hip implant claims for $120 mln

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

J&J, U.S. states settle hip implant claims for $120 million

Johnson & Johnson and its DePuy Orthopaedics unit have agreed to pay $120 million to resolve deceptive marketing claims by several U.S. states over the company's metal-on-metal hip implants. Attorneys general of 46 U.S. states announced the settlement agreement in statements on Tuesday. They alleged DePuy engaged in unfair and deceptive practices in the promotion of its ASR XL and Pinnacle Ultamet hip implant devices.

Amateur rock climbers often lack skills to save themselves

Most hobbyist rock climbers lack the basic rescue skills needed to save themselves in dangerous situations, a study suggests. This is true regardless of climbers' confidence, experience, training or climbing frequency, researchers wrote in the journal Wilderness and Environmental Medicine.

Rotavirus vaccination tied to lower rates of type 1 diabetes

Young kids who receive the rotavirus vaccine may be less likely to develop type 1 diabetes than children who don't get this routine childhood vaccination, an Australian study suggests. Rotavirus can cause severe watery diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and abdominal pain. Some children can become extremely dehydrated, requiring hospitalization to prevent fatalities. Rotavirus infections are also thought to accelerate the development of type 1 diabetes, although the exact reason for this connection isn't clear.

Elderly who don't want dialysis often pressured to get it

Doctors tend to steer elderly people with failing kidneys toward dialysis even when patients say they'd rather avoid such treatments, a new study finds. And when patients decline dialysis, which wouldn't buy much more time for a frail, elderly patient, doctors often try to convince them to change their minds, the study shows. "Dialysis is an amazing technology that has extended the lives of many people," said study leader Dr. Susan Wong, an assistant professor at the University of Washington and a core investigator at the VA Health Services Research and Development Center. "But the benefits are less certain in older, frailer patients."

Bayer asks California judge to limit evidence in another Roundup cancer trial

Bayer AG unit Monsanto has asked a California judge in the litigation over its glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup allegedly causing cancer to limit evidence by splitting an upcoming trial into two phases, a request previously successful with another judge. Monsanto in a previously unreported filing on Jan. 15 asked California Superior Court Judge Winifred Smith in Oakland to split a March trial by a California couple into two phases.

Aspirin lowers heart attack risk but raises risk of dangerous bleeding

People without heart disease who take a daily aspirin may lower their risk of a heart attack or stroke, but a new study confirms they also have an increased risk of severe internal bleeding. U.S. doctors have long advised adults who haven't had a heart attack or stroke but are at high risk for these events to take a daily aspirin pill, an approach known as primary prevention. Even though there's clear evidence aspirin works for this purpose, many physicians and patients have been reluctant to follow the recommendations because of the risk of rare but potentially fatal internal bleeding.

Walgreens pays $269.2 million to settle U.S. civil fraud lawsuits

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc will pay $269.2 million to settle two whistleblower lawsuits accusing it of civil fraud for overbilling federal healthcare programs over a decade, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Tuesday. The pharmacy chain will pay $209.2 million to resolve claims it improperly billed Medicare, Medicaid and other federal programs from 2006 to 2017 for hundreds of thousands of insulin pens it dispensed to patients it knew did not need them.

U.S. insulin costs per patient nearly doubled from 2012 to 2016: study

The cost of insulin for treating type 1 diabetes in the United States nearly doubled over a five-year period, underscoring a national outcry over rising drug prices, according to a new analysis shared with Reuters. A person with type 1 diabetes incurred annual insulin costs of $5,705, on average, in 2016. The average cost was roughly half that at $2,864 per patient in 2012, according to a report due to be released on Tuesday by the nonprofit Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI).

Chinese scientist who gene-edited babies fired by university

A Chinese scientist who created what he said were the world's first "gene-edited" babies evaded oversight and broke ethical boundaries in a quest for fame and fortune, state media said on Monday, as his former university said he had been fired. He Jiankui said in November that he used a gene-editing technology known as CRISPR-Cas9 to alter the embryonic genes of twin girls born that month, sparking an international outcry about the ethics and safety of such research.

U.S. top court rejects Helsinn over anti-nausea drug patent in win for Teva

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to revive Swiss drug company Helsinn Healthcare S.A.'s patent on the lucrative anti-nausea drug Aloxi in a victory for Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, which launched a generic version of it last year. The nine justices unanimously upheld a lower court ruling that had canceled Helsinn's patent on Aloxi for violating a provision in U.S. patent law that forbids sales of an invention before applying for a patent. Teva began selling its generic version of the drug in March 2018 after convincing the lower court to invalidate the patent.