Health News Roundup: J&J blockbuster loses ground to biosimilars despite Quebec court ruling; Apple launches app to let users enroll in health studies

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

J&J blockbuster loses ground to biosimilars despite Quebec court ruling

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.

Rollout of Johnson & Johnson Ebola vaccine begins in Congo

Health authorities in eastern Congo have introduced a new Ebola vaccine produced by Johnson & Johnson, aid group MSF said on Thursday, to help combat the world's second-worst outbreak of the virus on record. New tools including vaccines have helped contain the outbreak, second only to the 2013-16 West African outbreak that killed more than 11,300, despite public mistrust and conflict affecting the response in parts of the region.

Best surgery for long-term weight loss not yet clear

People with obesity may initially shed more excess pounds with an older operation known as Roux-en-Y gastric bypass than with a newer sleeve gastrectomy procedure, but a research review suggests that longer-term, which one is better for weight loss remains unknown. Researchers examined data from previous studies on a total of 2,475 obese patients in 13 countries who had weight-loss surgery between 2006 and 2018. One year after surgery, Roux-en-Y resulted in greater weight loss than sleeve gastrectomy, and this trend persisted three years after the procedure.

Climate change exposes future generations to life-long health harm

A child born today faces multiple and life-long health harms from climate change - growing up in a warmer world with risks of food shortages, infectious diseases, floods and extreme heat, a major global study has found. Climate change is already harming people's health by increasing the number of extreme weather events and exacerbating air pollution, according to the study published in The Lancet medical journal. And if nothing is done to mitigate it, its impacts could burden an entire generation with disease and illness throughout their lives.

U.S. vaping-related deaths rise to 42, cases of illness to 2,172

U.S. health officials on Thursday reported 2,172 confirmed and probable cases and 3 more deaths from a mysterious respiratory illness tied to vaping, taking the death toll to 42, so far this year. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 2,051 confirmed and probable U.S. lung injury cases and 39 deaths associated with use of e-cigarettes, or vaping products.

BeiGene drug wins U.S. FDA approval for rare form of lymphoma

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved BeiGene Ltd's lymphoma treatment, validating the China-based drugmaker's strategy of largely using data from trials held outside the United States to file for approval. The company tested the treatment, Brukinsa, in 118 patients with mantle cell lymphoma enrolled in two studies. About three-quarters were Asian, 21% Caucasian, and just between 10% to 15% were from the United States, BeiGene said.

Cancer doctors hesitate to discuss fertility issues with young women

Although cancer doctors know it's important to talk about fertility concerns with young women patients, they may feel uncomfortable and unprepared to discuss the issue, a study in Canada suggests. The American Society of Clinical Oncology guidelines recommend discussing potential infertility resulting from cancer treatments, but many doctors and patients are still not having these talks, the study authors write in JAMA Network Open.

Apple launches app to let users enroll in health studies

Apple Inc on Thursday launched an app that will let users of its devices to enroll in three health studies, allowing them to share health-related data for medical research. The studies are conducted in partnership with research institutes, including Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the NIH's National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

Hearing loss, even when mild, linked to mental decline in seniors

Slight declines in hearing, smaller than the usual cutoff for diagnosing hearing loss, are associated with measurable mental decline in seniors, a new study suggests. When researchers used a stricter threshold to include mild hearing loss, they found evidence that the well-established link between age-related hearing loss and cognitive decline might begin sooner than is recognized, according to the report in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.

Antibiotic-resistant infections killing twice as many Americans as once thought

Nearly twice as many people are dying in the United States from antibiotic-resistant infections than previously believed, U.S. health officials said on Wednesday, as so-called "superbugs" alarm experts with their rate of growth and spread. Issuing its first comprehensive report into the growing health threat in six years, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had determined that 2.8 million antibiotic resistant infections occur each year, killing 35,000 people.