Health News Roundup: J&J says FTC probing efforts to protect arthritis drug Remicade; U.S. judge blocks Medicaid work requirements in New Hampshire

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Stillbirth risk in diabetes higher with obesity and high blood sugar

Pregnant women with diabetes may be more likely to experience a stillbirth when they have obesity or poorly controlled blood sugar, a new study suggests. Even without these extra health issues, women with diabetes who become pregnant face a four to five times higher risk of stillbirth than women without diabetes, and this risk has remained stubbornly high even as stillbirth rates have declined in the general population, researchers note in Diabetologia.

Riskiest time for surgery patients is not in the operating room

The deadliest time for many surgery patients isn't when they're on the operating table, it's while they're recovering in the hospital and after they go home, a new study suggests. For the study, researchers examined outcomes for more than 40,000 patients 45 and older who underwent non-cardiac surgery at 28 hospitals in 14 countries. Researchers monitored patients for complications and deaths within 30 days of surgery.

U.S. judge blocks Medicaid work requirements in New Hampshire

A federal judge on Monday overturned the Trump administration's approval of a plan by the state of New Hampshire to impose work requirements on people seeking to obtain benefits from the Medicaid health insurance program. The ruling by U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., came after the judge earlier this year blocked the Republican-led states of Arkansas and Kentucky from moving forward with similar plans.

South Africa resumes beef exports to China after foot and mouth outbreak

South Africa has resumed beef exports to China after an outbreak of the highly contagious foot and mouth disease (FMD) in January halted trade, officials said on Tuesday. The ban on exports of products from cloven hoofed animals to China was officially lifted on July 23, Chinese ambassador Lin Songtian said during a briefing.

U.S. doctors giving fewer kids cough and cold medicines

American doctors are recommending cough and cold medicines less often amid a growing recognition that these treatments may be ineffective and lead to serious and potentially fatal side effects, particularly for young kids, a U.S. study suggests. Recommendations against the use of cough and cold medicines in young children have become increasingly common since 2008 when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advised against giving over-the-counter cough and cold drugs to kids under age 2. Soon after, drugmakers advised against cough and cold drugs for kids under age 4 and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended against these drugs for kids under age 6.

Most traumatic brain injuries in U.S. kids linked to consumer products

The majority of the more than four million traumatic brain injuries in kids treated in U.S. emergency rooms involved consumer products, a new study suggests. Brain injuries in younger children were tied to products such as beds and flooring, while injuries in older kids were tied to sports, such as football, basketball and bicycling, researchers reported in Brain Injury.

Novartis heart drug fails trial, curbing growth prospects

Novartis's heart failure drug Entresto failed a trial in a new use, the Swiss drugmaker said on Monday, calling into question billions of dollars in potential revenue and taking the shine off one of the company's biggest growth prospects. The drug, already approved for reduced fraction heart failure, "narrowly missed" its objectives when tested on patients with preserved ejection fraction type of heart disease which affects 13 million globally, roughly half of all heart failure patients, the company said in a statement.

U.S. records 16 new measles cases as outbreak show signs of slowing

The United States recorded 16 new measles cases between July 18 and July 25, federal health officials said on Monday, as the spread of the disease, which has infected 1,164 people this year in the worst U.S. outbreak since 1992, shows signs of slowing. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the new cases represented a 1.4% increase in the number of cases of the highly contagious and sometimes deadly disease since the previous week.

Gilead, Novartis cancer therapies losing patients to experimental treatments

Unusually high numbers of U.S. lymphoma patients are choosing experimental treatments over expensive cell therapies sold by Gilead Sciences Inc and Novartis AG, new data shows, helping explain why sales of the two products have not met rosy expectations. Both Gilead's Yescarta and Novartis's Kymriah - which are part of a class of therapies known in the medical field as "CAR-T" - were approved in 2017. But government and private health plans have balked at their high price of at least $373,000 for a one-time treatment before hospital costs, which can bring the bill for a single patient to over a million dollars.

J&J says FTC probing efforts to protect arthritis drug Remicade

The Federal Trade Commission issued civil subpoenas to Johnson and Johnson in June as part of an investigation into whether contracting practices for its blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug, Remicade, violated antitrust laws, the company said in a regulatory filing on Monday. Shares of the company traded marginally down at $132.47, after having closed up 1.7% on Monday.