Health News Roundup: Ban on vaping product advertising; FDA approval for Ebola vaccine and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Canada health minister proposes bans on vaping product advertising

Canada's minister of health, Patty Hajdu, on Thursday proposed banning promotion and advertising of vaping products in public spaces, convenience stores and online, in an effort to curb youth use of e-cigarettes. Hajdu also announced new mandatory health warnings on vaping product packaging.

U.S. appeals court sidesteps major Obamacare ruling

A U.S. appeals court ruled on Wednesday that a component of the Obamacare law is unconstitutional, but dodged a major ruling by stopping short of declaring that the rest of the landmark 2010 healthcare statute must also be struck down. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on a 2-1 vote that the law's individual mandate that directed Americans to obtain health insurance - a provision already gutted by Republican-backed legislation passed in Congress - was unlawful.

Novartis wins Medicaid approval for new sickle cell drug in key U.S. states

Novartis AG has secured Medicaid coverage for a pricey new sickle cell disease therapy in two U.S. states just weeks after winning U.S. approval, following an early campaign to convince local officials of its value, according to a company executive and a Reuters review of public filings. The approvals from the Florida and Alabama Medicaid health programs for the poor and disabled mark exceptionally fast acceptance for the treatment, which can cost up to $113,000 annually for an individual patient, excluding discounts, said Ameet Mallik, who heads the Swiss drugmaker's oncology division. In November, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Adakveo and Global Blood Therapeutic Inc's Oxbryta, which carries a list price of $125,000 per year.

Merck receives FDA approval for Ebola vaccine

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday it approved drugmaker Merck & Co's Ebola vaccine Ervebo, making it the first FDA-authorised vaccine against the deadly virus. The vaccine was used by the World Health Organization and Democratic Republic of the Congo as an investigational vaccine to help reduce Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreaks in few West African countries from 2014 to 2016.

Novartis plans to give away world's costliest therapy to some patients

Novartis aims to give away 100 doses of its $2.1 million-per-patient Zolgensma for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) in 2020 in a free-drug program that one patient group worried was a "health lottery" that could neglect some babies. Starting Jan. 2, Novartis's AveXis unit which developed Zolgensma will allocate 50 doses of the world's costliest single-dose treatment through June for babies under 2 years old, Novartis said on Thursday, with up to 100 total doses to be distributed through 2020.

First Ebola relapse recorded in Congo outbreak, WHO says

Health officials in eastern Congo have documented the first relapse in the current Ebola epidemic, the World Health Organization said on Friday. The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo has so far infected more than 3,300 people and killed more than 2,200 since the middle of last year, making it the second-worst on record.

China's e-cigarette industry cuts 10% of staff, slows production as regulation tightens

China's e-cigarette industry has laid off around 50,000 people since October, roughly 10% of its workforce, trade association estimates showed, as tightened regulation in the United States and China smother the once-booming sector. Ao Weinuo, secretary of the Electronic Cigarette Industry Committee, late on Thursday said media scrutiny of vaping in the United States, the largest e-cigarette market, has also caused demand to wane just as China banned online e-cigarette sales.

Hungarian government takes over fertility clinics to boost birth rate

Hungary's government has taken over six privately-owned fertility clinics and boosted funding to make treatments accessible to many more couples in a bid to reverse a population decline, the government said. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has made it a priority to boost the population and reverse a labor shortage with incentives to raise the birth rate rather than increase immigration, anathema to the nationalist leader.

U.S. vaping-related deaths rise to 54, hospitalizations to 2,506

U.S. health officials said on Thursday two more deaths occurred since last week from a mysterious respiratory illness tied to vaping, taking the total toll to 54. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also reported 97 more hospitalized cases from 50 states, the District of Columbia, and two U.S. territories, as of Dec. 17. The number of people hospitalized now stands at 2,506.

Commercial pig farm in China jams drone signal to combat swine fever crooks

One of China's biggest animal feed producers said it had used a radio transmitter to combat crooks using drones to drop pork products contaminated with African swine fever on its pig farms, as part of a racket to profit from the health scare. In July, China's agriculture ministry said criminal gangs were faking outbreaks of swine fever on farms and forcing farmers to sell their healthy pigs at sharply lower prices.