Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Too weak, too strict: India's food warning labels draw fire from all sides

The Indian government is facing fierce opposition on proposed food warning labels from both health experts and ​food giants - activists say many items will escape scrutiny while companies warn that the strict thresholds will put red flags on a wide range of products. In ​a setback to India's over $100 billion packaged food industry, which has long opposed any form of front-of-pack warnings ‌https://www.reuters.com/world/india-proposes-front-of-pack-warning-labels-packaged-food-response-consumer-2026-08-28/, the Food ​Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) last week proposed a red-coloured hexagonal label for products that exceed limits in at least two of three nutrients - added sugar, salt or saturated fat.

Robert Hunter to be new UnitedHealthcare president

UnitedHealth executive Robert Hunter said in a LinkedIn post on Monday he would take on the role of president of UnitedHealthcare, the company's insurance division. Here are some details:

Roche outlines plans to move towards autonomous AI labs

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche outlined plans to move towards autonomous AI labs to ‌speed up research and development discovery at its pharma investor day on Monday. Roche is committed to "AI independence" in R&D and has recently started building autonomous AI-driven labs, Aviv Regev, executive vice president of Genentech Research and Early Development, said.

Indonesia to inject $1.1 billion into health insurer BPJS Kesehatan

Indonesia's government will inject 20 trillion rupiah ($1.11 billion) into health insurer BPJS Kesehatan to help the state agency cover its deficit in 2026, according to a government statement. BPJS Kesehatan has 285 million policyholders, making it one of the biggest single-payer health insurance providers in the world, but the agency often runs into financial problems.

Factbox-US drugmakers turn to China for licensing deals

Merck on Monday agreed to pay Chinese biotech SciBrunch Therapeutics $400 million upfront for global ‌rights to an experimental cancer drug, making it the latest US drugmaker to license China-developed medicines. Chinese biotechs often retain domestic rights and license their drugs overseas in exchange for upfront and milestone payments as well as royalties.

Merck licenses SciBrunch cancer drug in deal worth up to $2.13 billion

Merck said on Monday it would pay up to $2.13 ‌billion under a global licensing deal with China's SciBrunch Therapeutics for rights to develop, manufacture and sell an experimental cancer treatment. The deal underscores Merck's efforts to broaden its cancer drug pipeline as it prepares for patent expirations on Keytruda, its top-selling immunotherapy, later this decade.

Congo's Ebola infections cross 8,000, government says

The number of confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo has risen above 8,000 for the first time in the Central African country's ongoing outbreak, government data showed on Monday. The latest situation report from the public health institute put the number of cases at 8,067 and deaths at 3,901.

Mirum's liver infection drug lowers virus levels in late-stage study

Mirum Pharmaceuticals on Monday said its experimental hepatitis drug reduced levels of the virus in patients, meeting the main goal of a late-stage study. Here are some key details:

Australia's CSL taps Amazon's cloud unit to ⁠boost research pipeline

Australian biotechnology firm ​CSL said on Tuesday it is collaborating with Amazon's cloud arm to harness AI and ⁠cloud technology across its research and clinical development pipeline. Here are some more details:

Pennsylvania measles cases cross 900 as outbreak grows

Pennsylvania's measles outbreak continued to worsen, with 68 new infections reported since Wednesday last week, bringing the total to 903 on Monday, health department data showed, as the state grapples with the worst measles resurgence in decades. Here are more details:

BioNTech to shutter three sites in Germany as no buyers emerge

German COVID-19 ⁠vaccine maker BioNTech said on Monday that it would close German sites that it has failed to sell as it pivots away from pandemic-era manufacturing. "Despite the best efforts of all those involved and a wide-ranging sales process, it has unfortunately not been possible to finalise a sale," said a spokesperson.

Pope Leo defends entering political fray on France end-of-life law

Pope Leo on Monday defended his decision ​to vocally oppose assisted dying initiatives while in France, acknowledging he may have entered the political fray two months after the country approved such a measure, but wanted to share the Catholic Church's viewpoint. "If that's politics, I did that, but it was not to get involved in French politics, it was ⁠to teach what the Church really believes," the first US pope told journalists on his flight back to Rome from his four-day visit to France.

AstraZeneca to invest $2 billion in Summit Therapeutics for cancer drug tie-up

Summit Therapeutics said on Monday that British drugmaker AstraZeneca would invest $2 billion in the company and collaborate on a series of studies testing their cancer treatments together. Summit's shares rose over 15% in extended trading following the announcement.

China's Hengrui inks up ⁠to $2.6 ​billion deal with Novo Nordisk for obesity drug

Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, China's largest drugmaker by market value, said on Tuesday it will license global rights to its weight-management drug HRS-1596 to Novo Nordisk A/S in a deal worth up to $2.6 billion. Under the agreement, Novo Nordisk gains exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and commercialise the drug outside certain regions, with the Danish drugmaker paying an upfront fee of $300 million.

India's top court allows forensic audit in Fortis-IHH Healthcare unit case

Malaysia's IHH Healthcare said on Monday that India's top court has disposed of Fortis Healthcare's petition challenging a court-ordered forensic audit concerning a decade-long dispute, allowing the audit to proceed. Fortis Healthcare had filed a petition challenging a late August court ⁠order, which directed the appointment of a forensic auditor into alleged asset dissipation by former promoters, or controlling shareholders, of Fortis.

Cochlear to defend shareholder class action over 2026 profit forecast

Australian hearing implant maker Cochlear said on Tuesday it has been served with a shareholder class action in the Supreme Court of Victoria over its fiscal ⁠2026 underlying net profit forecast. The company has denied the allegations outlined in the claim, and said it ⁠would defend the proceedings.

Trump administration asks Supreme Court to allow restrictions on transgender inmates

President Donald Trump's administration asked the US Supreme Court on Monday to let it enforce a policy restricting gender-affirming care for transgender inmates in federal prisons, part of his crackdown on the rights of transgender people. The Justice Department filed an emergency request asking the court to lift Washington, D.C.-based US District Judge Royce Lamberth's order blocking the Federal Bureau of Prisons from enforcing the policy, while a legal challenge to the measure plays ‌out.

AstraZeneca files for US FDA approval of HUTCHMED lung cancer ‌drug combination

HUTCHMED (China) said on Tuesday that Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca had applied to the US Food and Drug Administration for approval of the ORPATHYS-TAGRISSO combination to treat patients with advanced lung ​cancer. ORPATHYS is being jointly developed by AstraZeneca and HUTCHMED and is commercialised by AstraZeneca.