Health News Roundup: Burger King picks Unilever to make plant-based Whoppers in Europe; Merck wins European approval for first-ever Ebola vaccine

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Solid Biosciences shares plummet as gene therapy trial halted again

Shares in Solid Biosciences Inc plunged 71% on Tuesday after a trial testing its gene therapy for a muscle-wasting disorder was halted for the second time in less than two years. A seven-year-old boy being treated for the muscle-wasting disorder, Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), experienced serious complications such as a decrease in red blood cell count, acute kidney injury and a drop in platelets, the company said.

Burger King picks Unilever to make plant-based Whoppers in Europe

Burger King on Monday rolled out a meat-free version of its Whopper burger in 25 European countries, using patties made by Unilever Plc to strengthen its foothold in the exploding market for plant-based food served in restaurant chains. Heightened concerns about health and the environmental impact of industrial animal farming are pushing plant-based proteins into restaurant menus and chilled meat aisles in stores. Companies from Beyond Meat Inc to Impossible Foods Inc are competing fiercely for deals with fast-food makers, as plant-based mania spreads across Europe and the United States.

Eswatini next to suspend South African animal imports after foot and mouth outbreak

ESwatini has suspended animal imports from neighboring South Africa for a second time this year following another outbreak of foot and mouth disease, the mountain kingdom's agricultural ministry said on Tuesday. In January, eSwatini, formerly Swaziland, joined Botswana and Zimbabwe in suspending meat imports from South Africa over an outbreak of the highly contagious viral disease that affects cloven-footed animals - those with divided hooves such as cows, pigs and sheep.

Amarin surges as fish-oil drug receives largely positive FDA review

Amarin Corp Plc's fish oil-derived drug received a largely positive review from FDA staffers on Tuesday, dispelling investor fears that the company's choice of placebo in its trial could challenge the approval of its potential blockbuster. Shares of the company jumped 18% to $19.97 ahead of the drug's evaluation on Thursday by an expert panel of advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

U.S. recorded 11 cases of measles over the past month

The United States recorded 11 measles cases over a month as of Nov. 7, taking the total cases for the year to 1,261 in the worst outbreak since 1992, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday. The measles outbreak, which began in New York in October 2018, has largely been linked to children who did not receive vaccination.

Japan Tobacco halves price of reduced-risk cigarette starter kit

Japan Tobacco is halving the price of starter kits for its Ploom S reduced-risk cigarettes, as it struggles to compete against rival Philip Morris International. Japan is the world's biggest market for "heat not burn" products, which emit less smoke than conventional cigarettes, as regular e-cigarettes with liquid nicotine are banned.

Pneumonia kills a child every 39 seconds, health agencies say

Pneumonia killed more than 800,000 babies and young children last year - or one child every 39 seconds - despite being curable and mostly preventable, global health agencies said on Tuesday. In a report on what they described as a "forgotten epidemic", the United Nations children's fund UNICEF, the international charity Save The Children and four other health agencies urged governments to step up investment in vaccines to prevent the disease and in health services and medicines to treat it.

Google signs healthcare data and cloud computing deal with Ascension

Alphabet Inc's Google has signed its biggest cloud computing customer in healthcare to date, in a deal giving it access to datasets that could help it tune potentially lucrative artificial intelligence (AI) tools. Google and Ascension, which operates 150 hospitals and more than 50 senior living facilities across the United States, said the healthcare provider would move some data and analytics tools in its facilities to Google's servers.

Merck wins European approval for first-ever Ebola vaccine

U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co Inc on Monday received approval from the European Commission to market (http://bit.ly/2NZ0QMB) its Ebola vaccine, less than a month after a European medicines panel backed the first-ever vaccine against the deadly virus. The vaccine, Ervebo, is approved for individuals aged 18 years and older and has already been used under emergency guidelines to try to protect against the spread of a deadly Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo.

Trump to meet with vaping industry as he mulls tighter regulation

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he will be meeting with vaping industry representatives as his administration considers tightening e-cigarette regulations amid a nationwide outbreak of vaping-related injuries and deaths. "Will be meeting with representatives of the Vaping industry, together with medical professionals and individual state representatives, to come up with an acceptable solution to the Vaping and E-cigarette dilemma. Children’s health & safety, together with jobs, will be a focus!" he wrote on Twitter.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)