Health News Roundup: Second Ebola case detected in eastern Congo; Novartis heart drug fails trial

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.

'Presenteeism' takes toll on menstruating women

Women who push themselves to work or study despite menstrual symptoms like painful cramps may be less productive on those days and might benefit from being able to work from home or take a day off and make it up later, a large survey suggests. The online survey, conducted in The Netherlands, found that the average woman took off 1.3 days per year for reasons related to her periods. And nearly 81% of the women said they regularly show up for work or school even though their period is making them feel sick, researchers report in the journal BMJ Open.

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.

Fourth Bulgarian pig farm hit by African swine fever

Bulgarian veterinary authorities said on Tuesday they would cull 17,000 pigs after detecting an outbreak of African swine fever at a breeding farm in the northeast, the fourth industrial farm hit by the fast-spreading virus. The outbreak was detected at a farm in the village of Popina, near the Danube town of Silistra. Some 87,000 pigs have been killed on another three farms in the past 10 days.

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.

Second Ebola case detected in eastern Congo's main city

A second case of Ebola was detected on Tuesday in the eastern Congolese city of Goma, a local health official said, increasing concern the virus could establish a foothold in the densely populated area close to the Rwandan border. Goma's first Ebola case was detected in mid-July, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to warn that the spread of the disease could accelerate. The epidemic has killed more than 1,700 people since it was declared almost a year ago, becoming the second-worst outbreak on record.

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.

Congress seeks briefing on potential threat to U.S. heparin supply

Leaders of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday asked the Food and Drug Administration about the potential threat to the U.S. heparin supply due to the outbreak of African swine fever in China. Heparin is currently on the FDA's drug shortage list.

Exclusive: Two powerful Canadian provinces argued against federal drug price crackdown

Canada's two most populous provinces, Ontario and Quebec, have privately expressed concerns with a federal government plan to slash the price of patented drugs, arguing that such regulatory changes could hurt investment in life sciences. The Canadian government has said it plans to soon publish a final version of new regulations aimed at cutting patented drug prices that are among the highest in the world. Announced in 2017, the changes were expected to take effect in January, but the government delayed them to review feedback.

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. (https://bit.ly/2ZkZGze)

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