Reuters Health News Summary

Kennedy Jr. is remaking policy for childhood ⁠immunisation, industry analysts say. US health agency unveils weight-loss drug coverage model The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Tuesday unveiled a voluntary program to cover GLP-1 drugs for weight-loss and diabetes under Medicaid and Medicare Part D plans, following the Trump administration's price-cut deal.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Sanofi pushes ahead on adult vaccines with $2.2 billion Dynavax deal

Sanofi said on Wednesday it will buy U.S. biotech Dynavax Technologies for around $2.2 billion (1.9 billion euros) in an agreed deal that will ‌add an adult hepatitis B vaccine and a promising experimental shingles shot to its portfolio. The acquisition will help the French drugmaker diversify its vaccine business at a time when U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is remaking policy for childhood ⁠immunisation, industry analysts say.

US health agency unveils weight-loss drug coverage model

The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on Tuesday unveiled a voluntary program to cover GLP-1 drugs for weight-loss and diabetes under Medicaid and Medicare Part D plans, following the Trump administration's price-cut deal. U.S. President Donald Trump, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk signed a deal ​in November to slash the prices of popular GLP-1 weight-loss drugs for the government's Medicare and Medicaid programs, as well as for cash payers.

Weight-loss pill approval ‍set to accelerate food industry product overhauls

Packaged food makers and fast-food restaurants may be forced to overhaul more of their products next year as newly approved, appetite-suppressing GLP-1 pills become available in January, analysts say. More Americans are expected to try the drugs as a pill rather than as a shot because the medication will be cheaper and many patients are hesitant to inject themselves.

Biohaven's depression drug fails mid-stage ⁠trial, shares fall

Biohaven ‌said on Wednesday its experimental depression drug ⁠did not meet the main goal of a mid-stage trial, adding to a string of trial and regulatory setbacks for the drugmaker this year. The company's shares fell 17% in extended trading and are down ‍more than 70% this year, weighed down by a clinical trial failure in March and the U.S. health regulator's rejection of its drug troriluzole for a rare neurodegenerative disorder.

US FDA ​approves Omeros' drug to treat dangerous transplant complication

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Omeros' drug for a dangerous transplant complication in adults and ⁠children two years and older, marking the first treatment to be greenlit for the condition, the company said on Wednesday. Omeros shares rose nearly 70% in morning trading.

Democratic states sue to block cuts to ⁠US children's gender-affirming care

A group of Democratic state attorneys general on Tuesday sued President Donald Trump's administration to block proposed rules that would cut children's access to gender-affirming care, the latest court battle over Trump's efforts to eliminate legal protections for transgender people. U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. last week proposed ⁠rules that would bar hospitals that provide gender-affirming care to children from Medicaid and Medicare and prohibit the Children's Health Insurance Program from paying for it.

Agios Pharma ⁠shares jump as US FDA expands approval ‌for blood disorder drug

Shares of Agios Pharmaceuticals jumped nearly 16% on Wednesday after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the expanded use of its drug for the treatment of a type of blood disorder. The drug, with chemical name mitapivat and branded ⁠Aqvesme, was approved as the first oral treatment for patients with anemia in both non-transfusion-dependent and transfusion-dependent alpha- or ‍beta-thalassemia, the company said late on Tuesday.

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