Health News Roundup: Correvio slumps after FDA staffers say benefits of heart drug do not outweigh risks

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Correvio slumps after FDA staffers say benefits of heart drug do not outweigh risks

U.S. Food and Drug Administration staffers reviewing Correvio Pharma Corp's heart drug said on Friday they did not believe the benefits of the therapy outweighed its risks, sending the company's shares down nearly 38%. The drug, Brinavess, approved in Europe and other countries including Canada, aims to correct erratic heart rhythm in the upper heart chambers due to a condition known as atrial fibrillation or AFib. Ice bath after workout may not improve fitness

(Reuters Health) - New research throws cold water on a popular exercise recovery regimen, finding that ice baths after a workout may actually impede muscle building. Researchers found that cold or ice baths can impede the generation of new protein in the muscles, according to the report published in the Journal of Physiology. Biohaven Pharma to continue late-stage study of Alzheimer's treatment

Biohaven Pharmaceutical said on Friday it would continue testing its Alzheimer's disease treatment in a late-stage study as the drug had passed a so-called "futility analysis", sending shares up 4.1%. This comes a day after rival Biogen Inc built a case for its Alzheimer's drug, which it had previously planned to shelve on the basis of a futility analysis that suggested the trials would not meet their goals. FDA approves Amgen's biosimilar to J&J's rheumatoid arthritis drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Amgen Inc's biosimilar copy of Johnson & Johnson's blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug, Remicade, according to the regulator's website. The biosimilar, Avsola, has the same chemical components, dosage form and strength as Remicade and would treat a range of autoimmune disorders. Brief visit to severely polluted city can up biomarkers of heart disease

(Reuters Health) - Air pollution has often been linked with increased heart disease risk, but a "natural experiment" involving travelers to a city much more polluted than their own offers clues to how it may harm blood vessels over time, researchers say. In 26 healthy young adults from Los Angeles, researchers measured blood levels of pollution breakdown products and proteins linked to heart risk before, during and after a trip to Beijing for a summer study program. Grifols says trial shows positive effects in slowing Alzheimer's

Spain's Grifols said on Friday the latest results from a clinical trial of its Alzheimer's treatment show positive effects by achieving a reduction of the disease's progression in patients with mild and moderate conditions. The results of its AMBAR trial were unveiled at a conference in San Diego, the Barcelona-based company said in a statement to the Spanish stock regulator. Bayer reaches agreement to postpone more glyphosate lawsuits for settlement talks

Germany's Bayer has agreed with plaintiffs to postpone its next two U.S. lawsuits over the alleged cancer-causing effects of its glyphosate-based weed killers to allow more time for talks on a settlement. The company, which is facing 42,700 U.S. plaintiffs, is widely expected to eventually buy itself out of the litigation, with analysts currently estimating the size of a future settlement at $8-$12 billion. WHO decries 'collective failure' as measles kills 140,000

Measles infected nearly 10 million people in 2018 and killed 140,000, mostly children, as devastating outbreaks of the viral disease hit every region of the world, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. In figures described by its director general as "an outrage", the WHO said most of last year's measles deaths were in children under five years old who had not been vaccinated. U.S. recorded 15 cases of measles over the past month

The United States recorded 15 measles cases over about a month as of Dec. 5, taking the total cases for the year to 1,276 in the worst outbreak since 1992, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday. The measles outbreak, which began in New York in October 2018, has largely been linked to children who did not receive vaccination. (http://bit.ly/2miVZvw) Swiss approve insurance cover for Novartis, Gilead cell therapies

The Swiss government approved on Friday health insurance coverage for CAR-T cell therapies from Novartis and Gilead Sciences, which can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars per patient. In this form of therapy, patients' white blood cells are genetically modified to attack cancer cells.