Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news ​briefs.

US FDA approves Takeda, ​Protagonist's drug for rare ‌blood cancer

The U.S. ​Food and Drug Administration has approved a first-of-its-kind drug from Takeda Pharmaceutical and Protagonist Therapeutics to treat ‌a rare blood cancer, the health regulator said on Friday. The approval of rusfertide brings a highly anticipated, less-invasive treatment option for thousands of patients who have historically ‌relied on frequent bloodletting procedures to manage their condition.

Walmart settles US ‌government's opioid lawsuit, which sought billions, for $50 million

Walmart will pay $50 million to settle a U.S. government lawsuit accusing the nation's largest retailer of fueling a nationwide opioid epidemic by unlawfully ⁠dispensing prescriptions from ​its pharmacies, the ⁠Department of Justice said on Friday. The payout is far less than the billions of dollars ⁠in civil penalties that the Justice Department had said Walmart could owe when the ​lawsuit began in December 2020, near the end of President Donald Trump's ⁠first White House term.

Forced birth control in Greenland violated women's rights but didn't constitute ⁠genocide, ​experts find

A campaign of forced contraception in Greenland that ran primarily in the 1960s and 1970s violated women's human rights but did not ⁠meet the legal definition of genocide, two expert reports concluded on Friday. Both found ⁠administering contraception without valid ⁠consent breached the women's right to respect for their private and family life and subjected them to degrading treatment ‌in some ‌cases. The reports differed on whether the ​practice was systemic.