Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. J&J's Remicade losing ground in Quebec health plan despite court victory

Johnson & Johnson's Remicade, a blockbuster drug that treats autoimmune disorders, has steadily lost market share among patients enrolled in the Canadian province of Quebec's public drug program, even after a court ruling reinstated full coverage in January, a Reuters analysis of government data shows. The plan's administrator stopped covering Remicade, J&J unit Janssen's version of the drug infliximab, for some new patients in February 2017, in favor of cheap near-copies called biosimilars, mainly Pfizer Inc's version of infliximab, called Inflectra. In January, a Quebec court ordered it to resume coverage. New Zealanders to vote in referendum on legalizing euthanasia

New Zealand lawmakers passed a bill on Wednesday that would legalize euthanasia, paving the way for the public to vote on the issue in a referendum next year. The bill, which enables terminally ill people to request a medically assisted death, was passed 69-51 in parliament, after several amendments and years of heated debate. 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. 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. Patients just as satisfied when surgeons give fewer opioids for pain

When surgeons cut their prescribing of opioids for pain by more than 50%, their patient-satisfaction scores didn't suffer, a small U.S. study found. As reported in JAMA Surgery, the study team analyzed patient satisfaction results for 11 surgeons during the periods before and after the doctors were given education and prescribing guidelines that led to a sharp decrease in the number and duration of opioid prescriptions they gave out. Patient satisfaction ratings were high before the intervention and unchanged afterward, the study found. Michigan boy, 17, gets double lung transplant after damage from vaping

A 17-year-old Michigan boy facing "imminent death" from vaping injuries has undergone a double lung transplant, the first in a patient suffering from the effects of e-cigarettes, a Detroit hospital said on Tuesday. The announcement by Henry Ford Hospital came a day after President Donald Trump said he would meet with industry representatives as his administration weighs new regulations amid a nationwide outbreak of vaping-related illness and deaths. Vertex deal with Wales expands cystic fibrosis treatment coverage to all of UK

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc's drugs for lung condition cystic fibrosis will now be available to patients across the UK after the company reached a pricing deal with Wales on Wednesday. The U.S. drugmaker has already reached similar agreements with the National Health Service in Northern Ireland, England and Scotland. Black, Hispanic mothers report more pain after delivery but get less pain medication

White mothers may receive more pain assessments after delivery and have better access to painkillers than women from other racial and ethnic groups, two new studies suggest. For one study, researchers examined data on postpartum pain scores and pain management for 9,900 women. When women rated their pain on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the worst, Hispanic women were 61% more likely to report scores of 5 or higher and black women were more than twice as likely to report high pain scores, this study found. Insomnia symptoms tied to increased risk of heart attack and stroke

People who have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep may be more likely to have a heart attack or stroke than individuals who don't have any sleep difficulties, a recent study suggests. Researchers followed 487,200 people in China for about a decade starting when they were 51 years old on average. None of them had a history of heart disease or stroke at the start of the study. UK's Labour pledges 26 billion pound boost to healthcare spending

Britain's opposition Labour Party will pledge on Wednesday to spend an extra 26 billion pounds ($33 billion) on healthcare if it wins the Dec. 12 election, including recruiting thousands more staff, rebuilding facilities and providing new equipment. Labour, which is trailing Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservatives in the polls, has sought to make the state-run National Health Service (NHS), a central part of its campaign.

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