Health News Roundup: Monthly contraceptive pill; questions over coal rule and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Roche wins FDA approval for immunotherapy cocktail against lung cancer

Roche's Tecentriq immunotherapy mixed with chemotherapy won U.S. approval as an initial treatment for a form of lung cancer as the Swiss drugmaker seeks to establish its alternative to drugs from Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Tecentriq mixed with Celgene's Abraxane and carboplatin chemotherapy to treat metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with no EGFR or ALK genomic tumor aberrations, Roche said on Wednesday.

U.S. scientists test first monthly contraceptive pill in pigs

In a first, U.S. researchers have developed an experimental, once-a-month contraceptive pill aimed at improving the effectiveness of daily oral contraceptives, which many women forget to take, the team reported on Wednesday. The pill, which so far has only been tested in pigs, uses a new star-shaped drug delivery system that stays in the digestive tract for days or weeks after being swallowed, researchers from Harvard's Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Special Report: Powder Keg - FDA bowed to industry for decades as alarms were sounded over talc

At an invitation-only gathering late last year, U.S. regulators and their guests huddled at a hotel near Washington, D.C., to discuss the best way to detect cancer-causing asbestos in talc powders and cosmetics. The "Asbestos in Talc Symposium," sponsored by the Food and Drug Administration, was dominated by industry hands: Most of the 21 non-government participants had done work for talc companies, such as testing and serving as expert witnesses and consultants, symposium documents and other records show.

EPA ignores health benefits of coal rule it plans to weaken: economists

A U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposal to weaken a rule on coal plant pollution fails to consider billions of dollars in health benefits for Americans, economists from universities including Harvard and Yale said on Wednesday. The six economists said the proposal to change the rule on mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants ignores an Obama-era estimate that it would slash U.S. healthcare bills by $33 billion to $90 billion per year. The rule would save billions of dollars in healthcare costs because it requires plants to not only cut emissions of mercury, but also fine particulates that cause heart and lung illnesses, they said.

Quebec, Newfoundland & Labrador say they will not allow cannabis vape sales

The Canadian provinces of Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador said on Wednesday they would not allow the sale of cannabis vapes, just weeks before the start of marijuana derivatives sales, as concerns linger about a possible connection between the vaping products and severe lung disease "We will not be selling vaping products on January 1," Fabrice Giguère, a spokesman for the Société québécoise du cannabis, which is responsible for marijuana sales in the province, said by email, adding the province had not officially announced its stance.

Acadia Pharma's psychosis drug proven better than placebo in dementia patients

Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Wednesday dementia patients taking its drug Nuplazid were nearly three times less prone to a psychotic relapse than those on placebo. The drugmaker's late-stage trial testing Nuplazid, stopped in September after positive results, enrolled 392 patients aged 74.5 years on average.

Kids who snack may have better-quality diets

Children who eat between meals may be getting fruits and other elements of a healthy diet that they would not otherwise eat, a small study of kids' diet quality suggests. Researchers examined data on eating habits among 150 families in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, with children 5 to 7 years old. The study team surveyed participants on three separate occasions about what they ate and drank over the previous 24 hours.

New typhoid fever vaccine protects young children

The first field trial of a new typhoid vaccine that can be used in young children provides protection for 81.6% of recipients, opening the door to better control of a disease that affects 11 million people each year and kills roughly 117,000. The test in Nepal "provides the first evidence of the level of impact and the potential for improving the health of children in some of these very vulnerable populations around the world," lead author Andrew Pollard of Oxford University in the UK told Reuters Health in a telephone interview.

Samoa goes door-to-door to fight measles, combat anti-vaccination messages

Samoa closed all non-essential public and private services on Thursday to combat a measles epidemic that has killed more than 60 people, mostly babies, and young children, in a medical task complicated by a vocal anti-vaccination movement. The measles virus has so far infected more than 4,200 people in the South Pacific nation of only 200,000, government data shows, prompting medical teams to go door-to-door this week to vaccinate families still susceptible to the highly contagious disease.

Hospital groups file lawsuit to block Trump's price transparency rule

(Reuters) - U.S. hospital groups have challenged the Trump administration's rule that requires them to be more transparent about prices they charge patients for healthcare services, according to a lawsuit filed on Wednesday. The plaintiffs, including the nonprofit American Hospital Association (AHA), are looking to block the rule issued last month that mandates hospitals to publish pricing information of their services on the internet.