Health News Roundup: Study on BeiGene drug; Novartis drops asthma drug fevipiprant and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

BeiGene drug fails comparative study against AbbVie: J&J rival Imbruvica

BeiGene Ltd said on Monday a late-stage trial showed that its cancer treatment did not meet the main goal of proving superior to Imbruvica, a rival drug from Johnson & Johnson and AbbVie Inc. The trial compared the drugs in 229 patients with Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia (WM), a type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Axsome depression drug meets late-stage study goal, shares soar 56%

Axsome Therapeutics Inc said on Monday its drug succeeded in reducing symptoms of major depressive disorder in a late-stage trial, sending the company's share soaring 56% before the bell. The trial results take the company a step closer to acquiring a share of the multi-billion dollar market for depression drugs.

Novartis drops asthma drug fevipiprant after trial failures

Swiss drugmaker Novartis on Monday said it is jettisoning what it had hoped would be a billion-dollar-selling asthma drug, fevipiprant, from its development program after the medicine failed another set of key trials. The drug's star fell in October when the Basel-based company announced it had failed a pair of trials in moderate asthmatic patients.

New autism guidelines focus in early diagnosis, treatment

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) on Monday issued its first new autism treatment guidelines in 12 years aimed at helping doctors identify at-risk children and getting them the care they need as early as possible. Since developmental delays are often present in very young children with autism, the report, published in the journal Pediatrics, urges doctors to check for issues during all well-baby visits and refer children for treatment at the first sign of an issue, rather than wait for a formal autism evaluation.

Malaysia to work with UNICEF on polio vaccination in Sabah state

Malaysia's health authorities on Sunday said they are working with UNICEF to bring polio vaccines to the state of Sabah in Malaysian Borneo, where the country's first polio case in nearly three decades was detected last week. A three-month-old infant was diagnosed with polio on Dec. 6 after being admitted to hospital with a fever and muscle weakness, the first such case since 1992.