Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Hong Kong mulls South East Asia pig imports as pork prices jump on China swine fever outbreak

Hong Kong is looking into importing live pigs from countries in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, to supplement a dwindling supply from mainland China that has caused pork prices to surge, Food and Health Secretary Sophia Chan said on Wednesday. The city had been importing 4,000 pigs a day from mainland China for slaughter by local processors, but that number began declining late last year and has dropped to just 1,700 per day after deadly African swine fever ravaged China's hog herd. The disease, for which there is no vaccine, isn't harmful to humans. Alnylam's rare genetic disorder drug priced at $575,000 per year

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc priced its gene silencing drug to treat patients with a rare genetic disorder that can cause severe pain at $575,000 per year after receiving an early U.S. approval on Wednesday. The drug, Givlaari, uses a Nobel Prize-winning mechanism known as RNA interference to target and "silence" specific genetic material and is the second such drug to be approved http://bit.ly/37oqz9Z by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Sexual dysfunction, dryness common in years before menopause

Many women experience sexual health problems in the years leading up to menopause, and vaginal dryness is often responsible, a small study in Italy suggests. Researchers examined data on 518 women ages 40 to 55 to see how often they had vaginal dryness during gynecological checkups and how often they reported difficulty with things like lubrication, desire, arousal, orgasm and sexual satisfaction. Charity to pay $4 million to resolve U.S. pharma kickback probe

A Florida-based charity will pay $4 million to resolve claims that it acted as a conduit for companies including Biogen Inc and Novartis AG to pay kickbacks to Medicare patients using their high-priced multiple sclerosis drugs, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday. The settlement with the patient assistance charity The Assistance Fund marked the third so far with a foundation linked to an industry-wide probe that has resulted in $850 million in settlements with drugmakers and charities. White House: Vaping rules not stalled, Trump plans Friday meeting

President Donald Trump will host a meeting on vaping at the White House on Friday with a range of groups, including industry and public health representatives, a White House spokesman said on Wednesday, as his administration considers calls to tighten e-cigarette regulations amid alarm over serious health issues. "The policy making process is not stalled," White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement. Trump on Nov. 11 said he would be meeting with industry representatives after previously saying his administration would release its position on vaping last week, though it never was. Obese teens' quality of life improves after weight loss surgery

(Reuters Health) - Obese teens who have surgery to lose weight report better quality of life, less joint pain and fewer physical limitations after their operations than before, a new study suggests. Researchers followed 242 obese teens who had so-called metabolic and bariatric surgery to lose weight over three years, starting when they were 17 years old, on average. Prior to surgery, half of the teens had a body mass index (BMI) of at least 50, making them severely obese; two-thirds had musculoskeletal pain and joint pain and half had poor physical function. U.S. lawmakers question Google about collection of health records

U.S. Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren along with fellow Senators Richard Blumenthal and Bill Cassidy wrote a letter to Alphabet's Google on Wednesday to raise questions about its access to the health records of tens of millions of Americans. Warren and Blumenthal, who are Democrats, along with Cassidy, a Republican, were focused on a business partnership that Google formed with Ascension Health. U.S. health regulators drop plan to sharply cut nicotine in cigarettes: Bloomberg

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has shelved a proposal to drastically cut the level of nicotine in cigarettes, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday citing a regulatory document. Shares of tobacco giants Altria Group Inc and Philip Morris International rose on the report https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-20/u-s-drops-plan-to-cut-nicotine-levels-in-traditional-cigarettes. Healthcare battles in Democratic White House race could carry risk in 2020, polls show

A trio of polls released ahead of Wednesday's Democratic presidential debate showed a majority of Americans support Medicare for All, but offered conflicting signals about whether the proposed healthcare overhaul could hurt the party in the November 2020 general election. As with the previous four debates, Wednesday's televised clash in Atlanta is likely to be dominated by the intra-party battle over how best to expand healthcare coverage to millions of Americans. Johnson & Johnson loses pelvic mesh class action in Australia

More than 1,350 Australian women won a seven-year-old class action lawsuit on Thursday against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) for misleading patients and surgeons about the risks of the pharmaceutical giant's pelvic mesh implants. The suit is one of many J&J has faced in the United States, Canada and Europe over the implants, used to treat urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse, in which organs shift from normal positions. J&J in October agreed to pay nearly $117 million to resolve claims in 41 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.