Reuters Health News Summary

Reviewing data on 9,341 obese or overweight patients treated in 37 studies with any of 18 different weight-loss medications, researchers found they regained on average nearly one pound (0.4 kg) per month after stopping the drugs, and were projected to return to pre-treatment weight by 1.7 years. Trump administration ditches advice to limit alcohol to 1-2 drinks per day President Donald Trump's administration released new nutrition guidelines on Wednesday that abandon long-standing U.S. recommendations that Americans restrict alcohol consumption to two beverages a day for men and one for women in favor of simply advising they consume less to be healthier.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

US House advances Democratic effort to reinstate healthcare subsidies

The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday advanced Democratic legislation that would reinstate expired healthcare subsidies, as the two parties jockey to lure voters in November's congressional elections with competing approaches to an "affordability crisis." Nine Republicans split with their party and voted with 212 Democrats to tee up the measure for a final vote, expected on Thursday.

Lilly moves beyond blockbuster obesity drugs with $1.2 billion Ventyx buy

Eli Lilly will buy autoimmune drug developer Ventyx Biosciences for $1.2 billion in cash, the companies said on Wednesday, marking the Zepbound maker's latest push to expand beyond its blockbuster diabetes and weight-loss drugs. Ventyx is developing several treatments, including oral therapies for inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn's and ulcerative colitis, besides drugs for immunity-related, cardiometabolic and neurodegenerative disorders.

Less than two years after stopping obesity drugs, weight and health issues return, study finds

When patients stop taking ‌weight-loss medications, the beneficial effects of the drugs on weight and other health issues disappear within two years, a large analysis of earlier research has found. Reviewing data on 9,341 obese or overweight patients treated in 37 studies with any of 18 different weight-loss medications, researchers found they regained on average nearly one pound (0.4 kg) per month after stopping the drugs, and were projected to return to pre-treatment weight by 1.7 years.

Trump administration ditches advice to limit alcohol to 1-2 drinks per day

President Donald Trump's administration released new nutrition guidelines on Wednesday that abandon long-standing U.S. recommendations that Americans restrict alcohol consumption to two beverages a day for men and one for women in favor of simply advising they consume less to be healthier. The change is part of the new 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the U.S. government's roadmap to healthy drinking and eating practices that influences medical advice, the composition of school lunches and other policies.

Canadian pharmacy platform to offer ⁠India-sourced Ozempic to US patients

Online pharmacy platform SaveRxCanada.to said on Wednesday it has begun offering Novo Nordisk's blockbuster diabetes drug, Ozempic, sourced from India to U.S. patients, as demand for cheaper options grows. The Canada-based company said the India-sourced Ozempic injections are priced from about $280 per pen, compared with U.S. retail pharmacy prices that typically range between $900 and $1,100 per pen depending on dose and location.

AbbVie denies media reports of talks to buy Revolution Medicines

AbbVie on Wednesday denied it was in talks to buy Revolution Medicines after the Wall Street Journal reported the drugmaker was in advanced discussions to acquire the cancer-drug developer. The company "is not in discussions with Revolution Medicines," AbbVie said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

Trump administration cannot proceed with pilot drug rebate program, US court rules

The Trump administration cannot require hospitals serving low-income Americans to pay full price upfront for the first 10 medications to become subject to Medicare drug price negotiations and wait for rebates, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Wednesday. A three-judge panel of the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request by President Donald Trump's administration to put on hold an injunction a judge in Maine issued at the behest of the American Hospital Association and several healthcare providers that blocked the new program.

UAE recalls some Nestle infant formula products, Qatar warns consumers

The United Arab Emirates' drug ​regulator has recalled certain Nestle infant formula products after the company recalled specific batches over a potential toxin risk, the state news agency (WAM) reported on Wednesday. The Emirates Drug Establishment said no illness or adverse events linked to the affected batches have been reported or confirmed, WAM added.

Nimbus, Lilly sign deal to develop new oral obesity drug

Nimbus Therapeutics said on Tuesday it has entered into a multi-year research and licensing agreement with Eli Lilly to develop artificial intelligence-driven new oral treatments for obesity and other metabolic diseases. The U.S. drugmaker will make upfront and near-term milestone payments of $55 million, with an additional $1.3 billion ‍in development and commercial milestones to Nimbus, as well as royalties on global sales if the drug is approved.

OpenAI launches ChatGPT Health to connect medical records, wellness apps

OpenAI on Wednesday launched a ChatGPT Health tab that answers health-related questions and lets users upload medical records and connect wellness apps such as Apple Health and MyFitnessPal. WHY IT IS IMPORTANT

US delays exclusions for providers of child gender-affirming care, filing shows

The Trump administration has agreed not to issue notices of exclusion from Medicare or Medicaid to providers offering gender-affirming care to children while a lawsuit from Democratic-led states challenging its restrictions proceeds, a court filing shows. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services moved last month to cut children's access to gender-affirming care when it proposed rules barring hospitals that deliver such care from Medicare and Medicaid programs and prohibiting Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program from paying for it.

Nestle recalls infant formula batches in 25 countries over toxin risk

Nestle said it was recalling some batches of its infant nutrition products, including SMA, BEBA and NAN formulas, mostly in Europe, due to possible contamination with a toxin that can cause nausea and vomiting. The recall, which began on a smaller scale in December, adds pressure on new Chief Executive Philipp Navratil, who is seeking to revive growth through a portfolio review after a period of management upheaval.

Trump administration advises more protein, less sugar in new dietary guidelines

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a new slate of dietary guidelines that recommends Americans eat more protein and less sugar than previously advised and that consumers avoid highly processed foods ⁠to achieve a healthy diet. The guidelines ‌are the latest product of the Trump administration's "Make America Healthy Again" agenda, named for the social movement that backs Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He and other officials, including Agriculture ⁠Secretary Brooke Rollins, have implemented MAHA policy goals such as curbing childhood vaccines and restricting access to unhealthy foods for people receiving food stamps.

Health Rounds: AI uses sleep study data to accurately predict dozens of health issues

Artificial intelligence can use brain recordings from a single night in a sleep lab to predict a person's risk of developing more than 100 health conditions, researchers say. Known as SleepFM, the AI model was trained on more than half a million hours of sleep data collected via polysomnography from 65,000 participants.

Aktis Oncology secures Lilly as anchor investor for upsized US IPO

Cancer drug developer Aktis Oncology said on Wednesday it was targeting a valuation of up to $945.4 million in its upsized initial public offering, signaling strong investor demand for 2026's first U.S. listing. The Boston, Massachusetts-based ‍company has also drawn in Eli Lilly to anchor the IPO, with the pharma giant indicating interest in buying about $100 million worth of Aktis shares.

US FDA to limit regulation of health and fitness wearables, commissioner says

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday that it will limit regulation of wearable devices and software designed to support healthy lifestyles, issuing new guidance to clarify its regulatory approach. The guidance, along with comments from FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, adds to existing policy that classifies low-risk wellness tools, such as fitness apps and activity trackers that encourage exercise, as non-medical devices exempt from stringent regulation, provided they do not make claims related to disease diagnosis or treatment.

GSK's chronic hepatitis B therapy shows promise in ​key studies, analysts await full data

GSK will use promising results from two studies of its experimental chronic hepatitis B therapy to support planned regulatory applications, it said on Wednesday, raising hopes of a functional cure for over 250 million people affected by the condition. The British drugmaker did not disclose what proportion of patients showed sustained reduced levels of the virus DNA and surface antigens for six months or longer - the benchmark for functional cure - after treatment with the drug, bepirovirsen.

Nestle infant formula recall widens to Africa, the Americas and Asia

Nestle's recall of some batches of ⁠infant nutrition products has widened beyond Europe to Africa, the Americas and Asia, including Brazil, China and South Africa, a tally from the company and national food safety statements show. No illnesses have yet been confirmed in connection with the batches of SMA, BEBA, NAN and Alfamino formula that Nestle has recalled because of possible contamination with cereulide, a toxin that can cause nausea and vomiting.

Medical groups' challenge to Kennedy-backed vaccine policies can proceed, US judge rules

Several major medical organizations can move forward with their lawsuit challenging policies adopted under U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy that they say will lower vaccination rates, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston rejected arguments by lawyers for President Donald Trump's administration that the groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, lack legal standing to pursue the case because they ⁠could not show they were harmed by the policies.

Bayer sues COVID vaccine makers over mRNA technology

Bayer's Monsanto sued COVID-19 vaccine makers Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna in Delaware federal court on Tuesday for allegedly misusing its messenger RNA technology in manufacturing their vaccines, a Bayer spokesperson confirmed. The patent infringement lawsuits said the companies copied technology developed by Monsanto in the 1980s for strengthening mRNA in crops in order to stabilize the genetic material used in their vaccines.

Wyoming Supreme Court throws out abortion bans, keeping procedure legal

Abortions remained legal in Wyoming after the state's Supreme Court threw out two laws on Tuesday that banned the procedure, with a majority of justices ruling the laws violated the state's constitution. In 2023, responding to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling the prior year that there was no constitutional right to abortion, Wyoming lawmakers passed the Life is a Human Right Act, which banned people from performing abortions with limited exceptions, including rape or incest. A second law made it illegal to prescribe or dispense drugs that end a pregnancy.

US builds case to retain measles elimination status as infections mount

U.S. officials are building a case that ongoing measles outbreaks in South Carolina and other states are unrelated to last year's major outbreak in Texas, as it tries to retain its status of having ⁠eliminated the disease after recording the highest number of confirmed infections in three decades. To be considered measles-free by the World Health Organization, a country must have no locally transmitted cases of the same strain for 12 months or longer.

Lilly in talks to buy Ventyx Biosciences for more than $1 billion, WSJ reports

Eli Lilly is in advanced talks to buy Ventyx Biosciences for more than $1 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Shares of Ventyx surged more than 50% in extended trading following the report, which said the deal could be announced imminently.

Omeros prices ⁠transplant complication drug at $36,000 per dose

Omeros will price its recently approved drug for a life-threatening transplant complication in adults and children aged two and older at $36,000 per single-dose vial, CEO Gregory Demopulos ‌said on a call with analysts on Wednesday. Shares of the company were up 6.6% in extended trade.

Trump says he will meet with health insurers 'in a few days'

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would meet with representatives from every health insurance company soon, after saying last month that he wanted to talk to them about lowering their prices. "I'm going to meet with them in a few days, I'm meeting with them all: 14 companies," Trump said, speaking to a gathering of U.S. House Republicans in Washington.

Japan's Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical plans $2.55 billion MBO

Japan's Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical is planning to take the company private in a management buyout for nearly 400 billion yen ($2.55 billion), it said in a filing late on Tuesday. An entity owned by chief executive Kazuhide Nakatomi is set to offer 6,082 yen per share, the filing said, a premium of some 35% from Hisamitsu's closing share price of 4,500 yen on Monday, the day ⁠before the announcement.

Trump freezes over $10 billion in childcare, family assistance funds to 5 US states

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is freezing more than $10 billion in federal childcare and family assistance funds to California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said, citing what it called concerns about fraud and misuse. The Trump administration has threatened federal funding cuts to organizations and states over a number of issues since ‍taking office - ranging from alleged fraud in programs in states governed by Democrats to diversity initiatives and pro-Palestinian university protests against U.S. ally Israel's assault on Gaza.

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