Reuters Health News Summary

The US FDA has made mixed decisions on several health treatments, approving a Regenxbio gene therapy and Merck's bowel disease drug, while declining to approve Achieve Life Sciences' smoking-cessation drug.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

US FDA reverses course on Regenxbio's rare-disease gene therapy, backs accelerated approval bid

Regenxbio said on Monday the U.S. FDA has indicated that existing data for its rare-disease gene therapy could support an accelerated approval application, reversing course months after declining to approve the treatment. Regenxbio shares were up 16%.

Merck's bowel disease drug meets main goal in ​late-stage trial

Merck said on Monday its experimental drug met the main goal and key secondary goals in a late-stage trial in patients with a type of inflammatory bowel disease. At 12 weeks, the drug, tulisokibart, showed clinical remission in symptoms of ulcerative colitis.

US FDA ​declines to approve Achieve Life Sciences' smoking-cessation drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has declined to approve Achieve Life Sciences' drug to treat nicotine dependence in adults, citing ‌unresolved issues found at ​a third-party manufacturing facility and final product labeling that was not completed by the agency's action date. The FDA did not identify any deficiencies related to the drug's clinical efficacy or safety in its complete response letter, Achieve added in its statement on Monday.

US FDA updates guidance to speed up drug development

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Monday it is launching a series of measures to speed up drug research, from early-stage investigational studies to late-stage trials, under an initiative called Operation TrialBlazer. Here are some details:

Definium's LSD-based depression pill delivers strong late-stage results, shares surge

Definium Therapeutics said a single dose of its LSD-based experimental pill significantly reduced symptoms of major depression in patients in a late-stage trial, sending its shares soaring 55% to a more than four-year high on Monday. The experimental drug helped patients record significantly lower scores on a ‌standard depression scale than those on placebo after six weeks, with an 8.1-point difference, meeting the trial's main goal, the company said.

Pfizer's experimental drug misses main goal of lung cancer trial

Pfizer said on Monday that one of the key experimental drugs it picked up in its $43 billion 2023 acquisition of Seagen failed to improve survival when compared to chemotherapy in a late-stage trial of lung cancer patients who had already tried other treatments. The drug, sigvotatug vedotin, did not show a statistically significant improvement in the study's primary endpoint of overall survival in adults with locally advanced, unresectable or metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) versus the chemotherapy docetaxel, Pfizer said. The company's shares fell more than 1 percent in after-hours trading.

Exclusive-Shopify to bar vapes as U.S. authorities crack down on illegal industry

Shopify Inc will ban all vapes from its platform as soon as this week after pressure from a group of U.S. state attorneys general aiming to curb sales of illegal e-cigarettes online, according to two sources familiar with its plans. The Ottawa-based company provides the underlying infrastructure that lets millions of merchants operate and scale e-commerce channels. It has been in talks since last year with a bipartisan coalition ‌of 25 state attorneys general, who have been pushing Shopify to do more to clamp down on a booming market for vapes that lack the legally required licence for U.S. sales, or violate other laws.

Australia ramps up bird flu testing as Papua New Guinea blocks poultry imports after confirmed cases

Australian authorities ramped up surveillance and testing after confirming two cases of the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu, while neighbouring Papua New Guinea suspended all poultry imports from the country. Tests are underway in South Australia after two dead sub-Antarctic seabirds ‌and a pelican were found on Monday near Fowlers Bay, more than 1,200 km (746 miles) east of Esperance in Western Australia where the first two confirmed cases were reported, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Foundation Healthcare seeks up to $187 million in Singapore IPO

Foundation Healthcare Holdings, a Singapore-based private healthcare group backed by SeaTown, is seeking to raise S$242 million ($187 million) through an initial public offering in Singapore, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

The company plans to price its shares at S$0.76 to S$0.92 apiece, which would give it a market capitalisation of about S$1.01 billion to S$1.20 billion. It is expected to list on the Singapore Exchange mainboard on July 8.

Eli Lilly says Trump pricing policy will affect obesity drug launches in Europe

Eli Lilly expects to launch its weight-loss pill in Europe and Britain in the second half of 2026 or early 2027, with the drugmaker targeting the out-of-pocket telehealth market as it has done in the United States. Lilly still plans to pursue public reimbursement from European governments where possible, even as new U.S. drug pricing policies complicate negotiations with health authorities.

Abbisko Therapeutics enters potential $1.9 billion R&D deal with Eli Lilly

U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly will collaborate on experimental medicines with a unit of oncology-specialist Abbisko Cayman, with potential payments of up to around $1.9 billion if milestones are met, the Chinese drugmaker said on Tuesday. The deal marks another business win for Abbisko ⁠Cayman's up-and-coming subsidiary Abbisko Therapeutics, which in ​2022 entered into a collaboration agreement with Lilly to discover, develop and potentially commercialise a small-molecule therapeutic.

UNAIDS chief urges US to reconsider South Africa funding cut

The ⁠head of UNAIDS said on Monday she was saddened by U.S. plans to withdraw HIV/AIDS funding for South Africa and urged Washington to reconsider, warning the move could cost lives in the country with the largest number of people infected with the virus. Winnie Byanyima also told a U.N. news briefing ahead of a high-level U.N. conference on HIV/AIDS that broader global aid cuts risked reversing decades of progress against the disease.

Ebola cases in Congo reach highest first-month total of any outbreak, WHO says

Congo's Ebola outbreak has the largest number of confirmed cases within the first month of any episode of the disease, a senior World Health Organization official told a briefing on Tuesday, blaming the ⁠surge on its quick spread to urban areas. The Bundibugyo outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has infected over 1,000 people and killed 267 was detected late and experts say the virus had already been circulating for months before it was officially declared on May 15.

China approves CARsgen's CAR-T treatment for stomach cancer

China's drug regulator said on Monday it has approved a CARsgen Therapeutics treatment for stomach cancer, a new milestone for CAR-T therapies, which engineer patients' immune cells to recognise and kill cancer cells. The injection, also known as satri-cel, is globally the first approved CAR-T cell therapy for solid tumors, CARsgen CEO Li ​Zonghai told Reuters in an interview after the announcement.

All US passengers from hantavirus-hit ship return to home states

The University of Nebraska Medical Center said on Monday all 18 U.S.-resident passengers from the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius have returned to their home states after completing monitoring at its National Quarantine Unit. Sixteen of those passengers arrived on May 11 following their trip on the cruise ship, it said. Two more former passengers arrived at the National Quarantine Unit on May 15.

Congo's Ebola outbreak has most ⁠cases in first month of any African outbreak, WHO says

Congo's Ebola outbreak has the largest number of confirmed cases in the first month of any Ebola outbreak in Africa, a senior World Health Organization official told a briefing on Tuesday.

BIO CEO says more consistency needed in FDA review process

U.S. biotechnology industry trade group BIO worked with the Food and Drug Administration on plans announced on Monday to speed clinical trials and expects the next initiative will aim to standardize the agency's review of drug applications, CEO John Crowley said on Tuesday. "We need more consistency at the FDA," Crowley said in an interview at BIO's annual meeting in San Diego.

European patient access to new drugs worsens, pharma lobby says

Patient access to new ⁠medicines ​is worsening across Europe, the region's main pharmaceuticals industry lobby group said as it published research arguing that investment in innovative medicines generates substantial economic and social returns. The European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) said on Monday that a study it commissioned found that every euro spent on new medicines generated €5.67 in benefits, including reduced hospital costs and higher workforce productivity.

US provides Ebola treatment for outbreak in Congo, bringing trials closer

The U.S. has provided doses of an experimental antibody drug from Mapp Biopharmaceutical for use in clinical trials to fight the widening Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo, a Health Department spokesperson said, a shift from its position of making the drug available just for Americans. After dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development and slashing aid to the region, the U.S. is now making modest contributions to assist with what the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said could potentially be the worst Ebola outbreak yet without a strong response.

AbbVie sharpens immunology focus with $10.9 billion Apogee deal

AbbVie said on Monday it would buy Apogee Therapeutics for $10.9 billion, the company's largest buyout in more than five years, as ⁠it seeks to bolster its treatment pipeline for inflammatory diseases like atopic dermatitis and asthma. The acquisition, one of the largest biotech deals of the year, underscores the surge in pharmaceutical dealmaking, as companies race to build their portfolios ahead of looming patent expirations on blockbuster treatments.

Congo says confirmed Ebola cases rise to 1,048, including 267 deaths

The Democratic Republic of Congo said late on Monday that confirmed Ebola cases in the country had reached 1,048, including 267 deaths. On Sunday, the number of confirmed cases surpassed 1,000 for the first ⁠time since the outbreak began.

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China closing in but US leads in biotech quality, commercial reach, survey finds

China, which now conducts more clinical drug trials than the U.S., still lags in the quality and commercial reach of its biomedical science, according to a recent survey of senior U.S. leaders in industry and academia. The poll, conducted by Cure Innovation Index, found that China is seen as the clear leader in two out of six sectors: clinical development and supply chain.

Ebola infects more than 1,000 in Congo, spreads to kill toddler in new camp

Ebola has now infected more than 1,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo in an outbreak that has spread to a third displacement camp and killed an 18-month-old girl, official reports showed. The confirmed death count stood at 254, Congo's government said late on Sunday, more ‌than a month after the declaration of the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain that has no approved ‌treatment or vaccine.

Trump CDC nominee Schwartz to resign posts, sell holdings if confirmed

Erica Schwartz, President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said she will resign from UnitedHealth and board roles, sell healthcare-related holdings and recuse herself from matters involving former employers ​and clients if confirmed, in a financial disclosure to the HHS Ethics counsel. Here are some details from the letter dated June 16: