Health News Roundup: Fight over fentanyl copycats; ruling about drug prices in TV ads and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Trump administration drug officials clash over how to combat fentanyl copycats

Trump administration officials are divided over part of a proposal to crack down on illicit versions of fentanyl, the deadly synthetic painkiller that U.S. President Donald Trump targeted in declaring a national opioid abuse emergency. In an inter-agency dispute that highlights the challenges of curbing opioid abuse, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is publicly backing tighter rules for fentanyl analogs, which are slightly altered copycat versions of the powerful drug fueling an explosion in overdoses.

Novartis to sell epinephrine shot in U.S. pharmacies amid EpiPen shortage

Novartis AG said on Tuesday it would make its generic pre-filled epinephrine shots immediately available in local pharmacies across the United States, as a shortage of Mylan NV's EpiPen emergency allergy treatment drags on due to manufacturing problems. Novartis' Sandoz unit launched the Symjepi epinephrine shots for use in hospitals in January and had said it would make the treatment available in pharmacies in a phased manner.

U.S. judge strikes down Trump administration rule requiring drug prices in TV ads

A federal judge on Monday dealt a blow to the Trump administration by striking down a new rule that would have forced pharmaceutical companies to include the wholesale prices of their drugs in television advertising. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington sided with drugmakers Merck & Co Inc, Eli Lilly and Co and Amgen Inc by halting the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rule from taking effect on Tuesday as planned.

Mental health issues in Hong Kong surging amid tumultuous protests, experts say

Stress and trauma over the political turmoil surrounding Hong Kong's extradition bill have created an unprecedented mental health problem that the city is not equipped to deal with, medical professionals say. Discussion of mental health carries a huge stigma in the Chinese-ruled territory, and younger people are particularly vulnerable because of the stresses of everyday life: exorbitant living costs, cramped housing, academic pressure and a gloomy view of the future, medical professionals say.

Aggressive breast cancers more likely to hit black and younger women

Black and younger women face elevated risks of developing breast cancers that are not only aggressive but also less responsive to treatment, a new study confirms. Researchers found that non-Hispanic black women were more than twice as likely as white women to be diagnosed with so-called triple-negative breast cancers, while women under 40 were nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with aggressive cancer as those aged 50 to 64, according to the study published in Cancer.

Need quick medical advice in Britain? Ask Alexa

Britain's state-run health service is teaming up with Amazon to provide medical advice for common ailments such as migraines and flu via the tech giant's voice assistant Alexa, aiming to help more patients at home and cut down on costs. The plan is to give patients - especially the elderly, blind and those unable to access the internet through traditional means - access to information verified by the National Health Service (NHS) by using voice commands, the government said.

France will end healthcare refunds for homeopathic drugs

France will end social security reimbursements for homeopathic drugs and the new policy - which has drawn the fire of alternative medicine advocates - will take full effect in 2021, the healthcare minister said on Tuesday. Earlier this year the French health watchdog recommended the move, citing what it said was the insufficient effectiveness of the drugs after an investigation into how they affected conditions such as anxiety or foot warts.

Few supplements have proven heart benefits

Few nutritional supplements can protect people from developing or dying from cardiovascular disease, and some may actually be harmful, a research review suggests. Researchers examined data from 277 trials with a total of almost one million participants to assess the effects of 16 different nutritional supplements and 8 dietary interventions on the risk of heart problems and strokes.

U.S. appeals court signals sympathy to bid to strike down Obamacare

A federal appeals court panel appeared sympathetic on Tuesday to Republican efforts to overturn Obamacare, expressing skepticism to Democratic calls to overturn the ruling of a Texas judge who found the landmark U.S. healthcare reform law unconstitutional. Two Republican-appointed members of the three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sharply questioned lawyers for a group of Democratic state attorneys general and the Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives defending the Affordable Care Act.

GSK's Dovato suppresses AIDS virus at same levels of three-drug regimen

GlaxoSmithKline Plc's two-drug HIV regimen Dovato was successful in suppressing the AIDS-causing virus in patients for six months at the same level of previous three-drug treatment in a late-stage study, the drugmaker said on Wednesday. The study evaluated the effectiveness of Dovato, a combination of dolutegravir and lamivudine, in adults with the HIV-1 virus who switched to the regimen from at least a triple combination containing Gilead Sciences' Vemlidy, the British company's HIV drugs division ViiV said.