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. Merck's Keytruda fails late-stage study in liver cancer patients

Merck & Co Inc's cancer drug Keytruda failed a late-stage trial's main goals of slowing disease progression and extending the life of patients with a common type of liver cancer, the company said on Tuesday. The results could hamper prospects for the drug, which had received an accelerated approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in November as a treatment for patients with advanced liver cancer who had been previously treated with Bayer AG's Nexavar. Eating nuts tied to lower heart disease risk for diabetics

People with diabetes who regularly eat nuts may be less likely to develop heart disease than their counterparts who rarely, if ever, consume nuts, a U.S. study suggests. Diabetics who ate at least five 28-gram (one-ounce) servings of nuts a week were 17 percent less likely to develop heart disease than people with diabetes who had no more than one serving of nuts weekly, the study found. 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. China confirms first African swine fever outbreak in Shandong province

China's agriculture ministry said on Wednesday it has confirmed the first African swine fever outbreak in Shandong province, a major region for livestock production in the country's east. The highly contagious disease was found on a farm with 4,504 pigs in the provincial capital Jinan, infecting 17 of the animals and killing three hogs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said in a statement. Measles outbreak in Canada's British Columbia province affects 9

A measles outbreak in Vancouver that has infected nine individuals since Feb. 15 has led officials in the western Canadian city to urge the unvaccinated and under-vaccinated to be immunized. Bonnie Henry, provincial health officer of British Columbia, told Reuters on Tuesday that being under-vaccinated would include people who have had only one measles shot, when two doses are required for long-term immunization. Indivior launches generic version of its Suboxone opioid drug

British drugmaker Indivior Plc said on Wednesday it had launched a copycat version of its blockbuster opioid addiction drug Suboxone in the United States, just one day after a court decision cleared the way for its rivals to market generic versions of it. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling marked a victory for India-based generic drugmaker Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, which had earlier been blocked. 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. Climate change could raise risk of congenital heart defects

More babies could be born with heart defects in the future as global warming puts pregnant women at greater risk of exposure to dangerously high temperatures, new research suggests. The study is preliminary, and the potential impact of climate change on congenital heart disease is far from clear, the researchers say. But earlier work has suggested that expectant mothers who are exposed to extreme heat in the spring or summer, particularly in early pregnancy, are more likely to deliver babies with heart defects.