Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. AstraZeneca-Daiichi drug halts cancer for months in first readout

An experimental cancer drug developed by AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo kept metastatic breast cancer at bay for months in women who had exhausted other treatment options, its first clinical study showed. Patients on trastuzumab deruxtecan, also known as DS-8201, who had already undergone roughly six prior treatment courses, were saw no further progression for a median of 16.4 months. U.S. Supreme Court justices lean toward insurers on $12 billion Obamacare claims

U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday appeared sympathetic to claims made by health insurers seeking $12 billion from the federal government under a program set up by the Obamacare law aimed at encouraging them to offer medical coverage to previously uninsured Americans. The justices considered a challenge by a group of insurers of a lower court's ruling that Congress had suspended the government's obligation to make such payments. The insurers have said that ruling constituted a "bait-and-switch" that would enable the government to withhold money the companies were promised. U.S. diaper banks serve a fraction of families in need

(Reuters Health) - Many families living in poverty might benefit from diaper banks but don't receive this support, a U.S. study suggests. Nearly half of U.S. families with infants and toddlers live on less than $51,500 for a family of four, which is 200% of the federal poverty level, researchers note in the American Journal of Public Health. Many of these low-income households may struggle to afford rent and food as well as basic infant care needs, including a sufficient supply of diapers to keep babies clean, dry and healthy. Sexual dysfunction common after men's hernia surgery

Many men experience sexual dysfunction or pain during sexual activity after groin surgery to repair a hernia, a research review suggests. The authors analyzed data from 12 previous studies with a total of 4,884 patients. They focused on men who had what's known as an inguinal hernia, when soft tissue in the intestine bulges through the abdominal wall into the groin. Correvio Pharma to explore sale after FDA panel setback; shares hit record low

Correvio Pharma Corp said on Wednesday it would explore options including a sale, a day after its heart drug failed to win the backing of a panel of experts advising the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The Canadian drugmaker's U.S.- and Toronto-listed shares plunged as much as 69% to hit all-time lows. China finds African swine fever in wild boar in Shaanxi

China's agriculture ministry said on Wednesday that African swine fever had been detected in three dead wild boars in northwestern Shaanxi province. Nine wild boar samples submitted by the provincial forestry bureau were examined and three from Foping county, in the south of Shaanxi, tested positive for the disease, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said in a statement. Major political events depress young doctors' moods

Major political events, such as the 2016 presidential election and inauguration, were linked with declines in the moods of young U.S. doctors in training, a new study suggests. Survey results from more than 2,000 first-year medical residents, or interns, whose average age was 28, suggested that political events were more likely to bring down mood than non-political events such as Hurricane Irma and the Las Vegas shooting, researchers reported in The BMJ. Home is now the most common place of death in the U.S.

(Reuters Health) - For the first time in a least a half century, home has surpassed the hospital as the leading place to die in the United States. A new analysis of death data, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that dying at home surpassed dying in the hospital beginning in 2017. Decline in rural medical students likely to hurt rural physician workforce

(Reuters Health) - The rural U.S. is already in dire need of more doctors, and with decreasing numbers of medical students coming from rural towns, the problem is likely to grow, a study suggests. Doctors who grew up in a rural area are more likely to practice in one, researchers note in a special issue of Health Affairs focused on rural health issues. But the proportion of students from rural areas entering medical school has been declining for 15 years, and by 2017 was less than 5%, the study team reports. FDA issues warning letter to Alkermes over opioid addiction treatment ad

A print advertisement of Alkermes Plc's addiction treatment, Vivitrol, is false or misleading as it omits important risk information associated with its use, the Food and Drug Administration said in a warning letter http://bit.ly/2LGVKUM to the company. Users of Vivitrol as a treatment for opioid dependence should be made aware of the vulnerability to potentially fatal overdose at the end of a dosing interval, after missing a dose, or after discontinuing the treatment, the agency said in the letter dated Dec. 2.