Health News Roundup: Cardinal Health warns ongoing opioid-related lawsuits to hit business; Vaping impacts blood vessels, even without nicotine

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

China to speed up subsidies for pigs culled due to African swine fever

China's cabinet said on Wednesday it will speed up the distribution of subsidies for pigs that are culled due to African swine fever. China's rules stipulate that farmers must receive 1,200 yuan ($170) per pig culled to stop the spread of the deadly disease that has devastated the country's pig industry.

Expert panel updates advice on BRCA cancer gene screening

Mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are associated with increased risks for breast, ovarian, and other cancers, but only certain women stand to benefit from genetic testing, according to updated recommendations from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). "Whether or not the harms of risk assessment, counseling, testing, and interventions outweigh the benefits depends on a woman's individual risk profile and family history," Dr. Douglas K. Owens, Task Force member from Stanford University in California, told Reuters Health by email.

High levels of exhaust pollutants may raise risk for degenerative eye disease

(Reuters Health) - Exposure to high levels of exhaust may raise the risk of the vision-robbing disease called age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a new study suggests. In a study of nearly 40,000 people in Taiwan, researchers found that high levels of exhaust could nearly double the risk of the age-related eye condition, which damages the macula, the part of the eye needed for sharp, central vision. People with AMD have trouble seeing straight ahead.

Planned Parenthood opts out of U.S. subsidies in fight over abortion referrals

Planned Parenthood said on Monday it was withdrawing from a federal program subsidizing reproductive healthcare for low-income women after the Trump administration banned participants in the program from referring women to abortion providers. Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States, said its move was spurred by a federal appeals court decision last month clearing the administration's way to restrict Title X grants under a new policy critic have branded a "gag rule."

AstraZeneca Imfinzi combination fails advanced lung cancer study

A combination of AstraZeneca's lung cancer drug Imfinzi and an experimental treatment failed to extend the lives of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and high levels of gene mutations, the drugmaker said on Wednesday. The late-stage clinical trial was testing Imfinzi, chemically known as durvalumab, along with another treatment tremelimumab and compared the combination to platinum-based chemotherapy to treat patients whose cancer had spread beyond the lungs.

Teva launches generic version of EpiPen for young children

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd on Tuesday made its generic version of Mylan's EpiPen for young children available in most retail pharmacies at $300 for a 2-pack. U.S.-listed shares of the Israel-based company rose 4.9% to $7 in afternoon trading.

Philips, under investigation in the U.S. and Brazil, fired whistleblower who warned of graft

Healthcare giant Philips was warned of suspicious sales of its medical equipment to the Brazilian government and failed to halt them, nearly a decade before an alleged bribery racket was exposed in the company's Brazil operations last year, Reuters has learned. Claims of malfeasance reached the highest levels of the Dutch conglomerate as early as 2010, according to court records filed by federal prosecutors, internal company documents and Reuters interviews with a former manager at a Philips subsidiary in Brazil who says he told superiors of the suspected scheme and was later sacked.

Cardinal Health warns ongoing opioid-related lawsuits to hit business

Drug distributor Cardinal Health Inc warned on Tuesday that its business could be hurt as it defends itself against several opioid-related lawsuits. Several pharmaceutical wholesale distributors, including Cardinal, have been named as defendants in about 2,500 lawsuits for the distribution of prescription opioid pain medications. These lawsuits have been filed in various federal, state, and other courts by a variety of plaintiffs.

Vaping impacts blood vessels, even without nicotine

(Reuters Health) - Healthy young people show signs of impaired blood vessel function after just a few puffs of an electronic cigarette, even without nicotine, new research shows. "We essentially found that using e-cigarettes is not equivalent to inhaling water vapor; in fact, it can exert acute, detrimental effects on (blood vessels) even when the liquid does not contain nicotine," Dr. Alessandra Caporale of the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia, the study's first author, told Reuters Health in an email.

Drugmakers Endo, Allergan agree to $15 million in settlements in major opioid case

Endo International Plc and Allergan Plc have agreed to pay $15 million to avoid going to trial in October in a landmark case by two Ohio counties accusing various drug manufacturers and distributors of fueling the U.S. opioid epidemic. The tentative deals disclosed on Tuesday came ahead of the first trial to result from 2,000 lawsuits pending in a federal court in Cleveland largely by local governments seeking to hold drug companies responsible for the deadly epidemic.

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