Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Prior dengue infection may protect against Zika: study

Prior infection with dengue, a mosquito-borne disease that infects nearly 400 million people a year, could reduce the risk of contracting Zika nearly by half, U.S. and Brazilian researchers reported on Thursday. The finding, published in the journal Science, could have implications for approved and experimental dengue vaccines by Sanofi, Takeda Pharmaceutical, Merck & Co and Brazil's Butantan Institute, they said. European measles cases highest in a decade as pockets refuse vaccination

Europe had a record number of measles cases last year, in part due to a growing number of pockets where parents are refusing vaccination for their children, the World Health Organization said on Thursday. At the same time, the WHO said, record numbers of children are getting the vaccine - offering hope that the rise in infections may not last. Novartis CEO lauds Trump administration plan to overhaul rebates

Novartis AG Chief Executive Vas Narasimhan said his company's prescription drug prices have been "flat to negative" over the last three years, and directed blame for high costs for U.S. patients on industry middlemen that manage drug benefits. In an interview with Reuters in New York on Wednesday Narasimhan, a 42-year-old U.S. doctor who has headed the Swiss drugmaker since Feb. 2018, threw his support behind a U.S. government proposal to end a system of rebates drugmakers pay to pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and health insurers in order to get products on their lists of covered medicines.. Drugmakers say UK could lose out on EU anti-counterfeit drugs push

Drugmakers warned on Friday that if Britain leaves the European Union without a deal next month Britons could miss out on an EU-wide system to fight counterfeit drugs that will go live on Saturday after years of British involvement in building it. Drugmakers, wholesalers and pharmacies across Europe have worked for more than four years on a system based on a shared database and tamper-proof packages with barcodes that will go live on Saturday, to fulfill the European Union's Falsified Medicines Directive (FMD). UniQure gene therapy shows rise in blood-clotting protein in trial

UniQure NV said on Friday its gene therapy to treat patients with a blood disorder, hemophilia B, increased the levels of a protein that helps in blood clotting after 12 weeks. The updated data from a mid-stage study showed that all three patients on the therapy, AMT-061, showed increasing and sustained levels of factor IX, which helps stop bleeding through blood clots. Kids start brushing too late, use too much toothpaste

Most children are using too much toothpaste, don't brush often enough and don't start brushing their teeth at a young enough age, according to a U.S. survey. Parents should brush infants' teeth when the first tooth appears, which can be as early as age 6 months. And they should help their kids brush until the kids are independent enough to thoroughly and correctly brush do it themselves, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and pediatrician groups advise. Pfizer Japan recalls high blood pressure drug Amvalo due to carcinogen

The Japanese subsidiary of Pfizer Inc is recalling a drug for high blood pressure which was found to contain a substance that can cause cancer, the drugmaker said on Friday. More than 763,000 tablets of the drug Amvalo, which were manufactured in a factory in India from April to July last year, are the subject of recall, Pfizer Japan Inc said in a statement, adding there were no reports of any damage to health. J&J becomes first drugmaker to add prices to television ads

Johnson & Johnson said on Thursday it will start adding the price of its medicines to television commercials by next month, becoming the first drugmaker to heed a call by U.S. President Donald Trump for price transparency of drugs advertised directly to consumers on TV. The healthcare conglomerate said it will include both the list price of a product - the price before any rebates or discounts to insurers or pharmacy benefit managers - as well as potential out-of-pocket costs that patients will pay. FDA pulls up Walgreens for violating tobacco sale laws by selling to minors

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Thursday it was taking action against certain retailers including Walgreen Boots Alliance for repeatedly flouting tobacco sale rules, including sale of cigars and menthol cigarettes to minors. Walgreens is currently the top violator among pharmacies that sell tobacco products, with 22 percent of its inspected stores having illegally sold tobacco products to minors, the U.S. health regulator said in a statement. Diabetes does not appear to affect children's test scores

Kids living with type 1 diabetes are no different from their peers in their reading and math test scores, a Danish study suggests. The less common form of diabetes, known as type 1, develops in childhood or young adulthood when the pancreas fails to produce the hormone insulin, which is needed for the body to convert blood sugar into energy.