Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. U.S. top court rejects Maryland bid to revive drug price-gouging law

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Maryland's bid to revive a law aimed at preventing price gouging by pharmaceutical companies, dealing a setback to the power of states to rein in prescription drug costs. The justices declined to take up Maryland's appeal of a 2018 federal appeals court ruling that struck down the state's law, That ruling held that Maryland had regulated wholesale pricing by the companies in violation of the U.S. Constitution's bar on state-level regulation of interstate commerce. Intercept's fatty liver drug meets late-stage main goal, shares soar

Intercept Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Tuesday its treatment in patients with a progressive fatty liver disease showed an improvement in scarring on the organ, taking the drug a step closer to approval and sending the company's shares surging 25 percent. Drugmakers are racing to develop a treatment for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH, a lucrative market that some analysts project could reach $20 billion to $35 billion as populations with fatty diets increasingly develop the disease. Mongolia to suspend KFC outlets for inquiry after food poisoning reports

A Mongolian regulator said it will suspend operations at KFC restaurants temporarily to conduct inquiries, as 42 people were hospitalized and hundreds showed food poisoning symptoms after eating at one of the outlets of the fast-food chain. The incident occurred at the Zaisan outlet in Ulaanbaatar last week due to its contaminated water supply, the city's Metropolitan Professional Inspection Agency said, adding that 247 people had reported symptoms such as diarrhea and vomiting. Pfizer-Lilly drug shown to help reduce back pain in late-stage trial

A non-opioid painkiller developed by Pfizer Inc and Eli Lilly and Co succeeded in reducing chronic low back pain when used in a stronger dose, results from a late-stage study showed on Tuesday. But a lower dose of the drug, tanezumab, failed to alleviate pain when compared with a placebo, the companies said in a statement. Joining a clinical trial is too hard for many cancer patients

Only a small fraction of cancer patients volunteer for clinical trials. The reason, a new study suggests, is not that they don't want to, but that the system makes it too hard. "The reason most patients don't go into clinical trials is not because of the patient, but because of all the barriers in front of the patient, including structural and clinical factors," said the study's lead author, Joseph Unger, a health services researcher and biostatistician at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. U.S. top court rejects bid to block Indivior opioid drug copycat

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to Indivior Plc on Tuesday, clearing the way for a copycat version of the British pharmaceutical firm's lucrative opioid addiction treatment Suboxone Film in a victory for India-based generic drug maker Dr. Reddy's Laboratories. Chief Justice John Roberts, in a brief order, denied Indivior's request to put on hold a lower court's ruling that had opened the door to cheaper generic versions of Suboxone while the company prepares an appeal to the high court. Ireland urges people not to stockpile medicines ahead of Brexit

Ireland's deputy prime minister on Tuesday called on people not to stockpile medicine before Britain quits the European Union, saying the country had at least eight weeks of supply and was moving to source medicines from other EU countries. Despite its large pharmaceutical industry, Ireland relies on Britain for many medicines. Some of them may not be approved for use in the EU if Britain leaves on March 29 without a deal, Simon Coveney told RTE radio. Philippines revokes Sanofi's product license for dengue vaccine

The Philippines has permanently halted the sale, distribution and marketing of Sanofi's dengue vaccine in the country after the French drug maker failed to meet the directives of regulators. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Director General Nela Charade Puno said on Tuesday registration certificates for Dengvaxia products have been revoked because of Sanofi's "brazen defiance" of the agency's directives. British start-up breeds high performance bugs for animal feed

After centuries of selective breeding of animals and plants to maximize yields in agriculture, bugs are getting the same treatment, as demand for insect protein grows. British start-up Beta Bugs is breeding high performance strains of black soldier fly for the insect feed sector, and is selecting traits like growth rate, protein content, fat composition and even temperature tolerance according to clients' needs. Vietnam confirms first African swine fever cases on three farms

African swine fever has been detected on three farms in Vietnam, authorities said on Tuesday, the first confirmed cases of the highly contagious disease in the Southeast Asia country. All pigs on the farms located in Hung Yen and Thai Binh provinces, southeast of the capital Hanoi, were culled, the Animal Health Department said in a statement.