Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Trump administration resolves fentanyl dispute but congressional support needed for broader crackdown

The Trump administration has resolved an internal dispute over how to handle new variants of fentanyl that it believes can beef up the fight against the deadly synthetic painkiller without hindering research to ease the opioid crisis, according to a draft agreement seen by Reuters. The administration had hoped the deal, a copy of which was turned over to the Senate in the fall, would pave the way for Congress to pass their draft legislation into law, but so far it has failed to do so. Acceleron's pulmonary hypertension treatment meets main goal, shares soar 79%

Acceleron Pharma Inc said on Monday its investigational treatment for a rare, deadly lung disease called pulmonary arterial hypertension met the main goal in a mid-stage trial, sending its shares surging 79%. The treatment, sotatercept, showed significant reduction in pulmonary vascular resistance versus placebo at week 24. China's Xi tells WHO he's confident of slaying 'devil' virus

Chinese President Xi Jinping told the visiting chief of the World Health Organization on Tuesday that he was confident of winning the battle against a "devil" coronavirus that has killed 106 people and spread across the world. A growing number of countries are planning to evacuate their citizens from Wuhan, a central city of 11 million people and epicenter of the outbreak. A chartered plane taking out U.S. consulate staff was set to leave Wuhan on Wednesday, a spokeswoman at the U.S. embassy in Beijing said. New York, FTC sue 'pharma bro' Shkreli, others over Daraprim price hikes

Martin Shkreli, the "pharma bro" in prison for defrauding investors, faces a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission and New York attorney general's office for an alleged scheme to preserve his monopoly for the drug Daraprim, whose price increased by more than 4,000% in one day. The lawsuit accuses a company that Shkreli once ran of buying the rights in 2015 to Daraprim, which is used to treat toxoplasmosis - a disease resulting from infection with a parasite - and quickly raising the price from $17.50 per tablet to $750 while taking steps to ensure there would not be a cheaper generic version of the medicine. Indian state to cull chickens after H5N1 bird flu found

Authorities in an eastern Indian state will start culling chickens and destroying eggs from Tuesday to contain a bird flu virus of the H5N1 strain, a government statement said on Monday. The samples collected from a poultry breeding and research farm of a veterinary college in Odisha state tested positive, the statement said. UK healthcare cost agency rejects J&J's nasal spray for depression

Britain's healthcare cost agency on Tuesday recommended against including Johnson & Johnson's nasal spray for depression, Spravato, in the country's healthcare network, citing uncertainties over its clinical and cost effectiveness. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), which determines if a drug is included in Britain's National Healthcare System (NHS), said there was a lack of evidence on how the treatment, chemically called esketamine, fared over rivals, and that it could raise costs. Despite insurance gains, more people in the U.S. can't afford doctors

A growing number of Americans find it too expensive to see doctors even though more people have health insurance, a U.S. study suggests. Over the past two decades, the proportion of adults without insurance dropped to 14.8% from 16.9%, the study found. But during this same period, the proportion of adults unable to afford doctor visits climbed from 11.4% to 15.7%. Incyte's skin disease drug meets main goal in late-stage study

Drugmaker Incyte said on Tuesday its cream to treat a type of skin disease met its main goal of improving skin clarity in patients with atopic dermatitis in a late-stage study. Atopic dermatitis is a common chronic disease characterized by inflammation of the skin. Wuhan people keep out: Chinese villages shun outsiders as virus spreads

In a village in Beijing's far northeastern Shunyi district, residents have set an informal rule: "If you're here, don't leave. If they've left, don't let them come back." Red tape was tied across the road at the entrance to the small community Monday. Village committee members wearing face masks and high-visibility vests manned the blockade. U.S. FDA regulator gives new priority review for Sanofi and Regeneron's Dupixent

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory body has accepted for priority review the use of Sanofi and Regeneron's Dupixent product for children aged 6-11 with moderate-to-severe eczema, the companies said. Sanofi and Regeneron added in a statement that if Dupixent won approval from the FDA, it would become the first biologic medicine available in the United States for such children.