Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Merck and Bayer's heart drug meets main goal of late-stage study

Merck & Co Inc

Four Democratic leaders on the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce committee on Monday wrote Alphabet Inc's Google and Ascension Health demanding briefings by Dec. 6 on how patient data the hospital chain is storing on the cloud is used. Google's cloud computing unit said last week that it has incorporated industry standard security and privacy practices into its deal with Ascension, and that none of the data is being used for advertising purposes. Most parents struggle to distinguish teen angst from depression

Telling the difference between a teen's normal ups and downs and something bigger is among top challenges parents face in identifying youth depression, a new national poll suggests. The C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health asked a national sample of parents with children in middle, junior high, or high school about their views on the role of parents and schools in recognizing youth depression. Novartis switches gears in Shanghai from research to drug development

Novartis is exiting drug discovery at its Shanghai site and shifting its focus to drug development, saying accelerating approvals in China are pushing the Swiss company to dedicate the operation's resources to getting its medicines to market. The move marks an about-face from just three years ago, when Novartis had christened the $1 billion campus as its Chinese hub for early-stage research. Portuguese foundation launches world's largest cancer award

Portugal's Champalimaud Foundation announced on Monday the world's largest annual prize, worth 1 million euros, for research and clinical practices aiming to control or eradicate cancer. Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally and it was responsible for an estimated 9.6 million deaths in 2018, according to the World Health Organisation. Morphosys to boost size of tafasitamab drug trial on encouraging interim data

German biotech company Morphosys said more patients would be recruited for a study testing its most advanced drug against a common type of blood cancer, following an encouraging interim data readout. An independent data monitoring committee recommended an increase in the number of patients to 450 from currently 330 in the ongoing trial named B-MIND, which tests the tafasitamab drug against relapsed or refractory diffuse large B cell lymphoma. India says e-cigarette ban implies use of devices also prohibited

The Indian government has told a court that its federal ban on the sale of electronic cigarettes implies that their use is also prohibited, legal documents seen by Reuters showed, in a further clampdown on the devices. Citing health risks, India in September banned the import, manufacture, sale, advertisement, storage and distribution of e-cigarettes, dashing future plans of companies such as U.S.-based Juul Labs and Philip Morris International. Where Democratic presidential candidates stand on 'Medicare for All' ahead of next debate

Perhaps no issue has divided the field of Democratic 2020 presidential hopefuls more than the debate over "Medicare for All." Progressive candidates favor the sweeping proposal, which would replace private health insurance with a single government-run plan. More moderate candidates have embraced less drastic measures they say would achieve universal healthcare coverage while allowing individuals to choose their plan. Donors pledge $2.6 billion for 'last mile' of polio eradication

Donor governments and philanthropists pledged $2.6 billion on Tuesday to help fund a worldwide polio eradication plan that has taken decades to reach what global health specialists say is now the "last mile". The funding - almost of half of which came in a single donation from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation - will be used to immunize 450 million children against polio each year, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement. California sues e-cigarette maker Juul for selling nicotine products to youth

The state of California on Monday sued e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc, alleging the San Francisco company engaged in a "systematic" and "wildly successful" campaign to attract teenagers to its nicotine devices. The lawsuit draws on internal correspondence and other evidence, asserting the company did little to prevent sales to underage customers. It also claims that Juul used a "flawed" age-verification process for online sales.

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