Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Disc Medicine's rare disease drug succeeds in late-stage trial

Disc Medicine said on Monday its experimental pill for a rare disease that causes extreme ​pain from sunlight met all of its main and secondary goals in a late-stage trial, sending its shares surging 65% in ​premarket trading. Here are some details:

Veradermics' oral hair-loss drug shown to boost hair growth in late-stage study

Drug ‌developer ​Veradermics said on Monday that its oral pill helped increase hair growth in men with pattern hair loss in a late-stage study. Here are more details:

Roche moves future Germany investments 'on hold'

Swiss drugmaker Roche is reviewing all future investments in Germany over healthcare cost-cutting policies, the company's Germany chief said in an interview with newspaper Welt that was published on Monday. "We have put all future investment decisions in Germany on hold for ‌the time being," said Daniel Steiners, head of Roche Germany, adding that for the pharmaceutical industry, policy makers had "recently destroyed a lot of trust".

China's Hansoh Pharma strikes drug deal with Roche worth over $15 billion

China's Hansoh Pharmaceutical said on Monday its units have entered into a partnership and licensing deal with Roche, potentially worth more than $15 billion, that covers a portfolio of antibody-drug conjugate programs. As part of the deal with the Swiss drugmaker's unit F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Hansoh will receive an upfront payment of $400 million, a first anniversary payment of $110 million, and further milestone payments.

HK-listed Metis TechBio, Eli Lilly strike drug-delivery deal worth up ‌to $1.1 billion

Hong Kong-listed Metis TechBio said on Monday it has entered into a collaboration agreement with Eli Lilly worth up to $1.1 billion to research and develop tissue-specific drug delivery technologies. The Chinese biotech will use its proprietary AI-driven drug-delivery platform to develop next-generation technologies aimed at improving how ‌LNP-based drugs reach target tissues.

Roche to unveil lung, breast cancer data at ESMO 2026

Roche said on Monday it will present new late-stage trial results at the ESMO 2026 cancer meeting in Madrid, including data showing its lung cancer drug divarasib worked better than current KRAS G12C treatments. The company will also show data that its breast cancer pill giredestrant improved outcomes without hurting patients' quality of life, and that its experimental drug Tam-Peli showed strong results in several hard-to-treat tumours.

EyePoint to halve workforce after experimental drug fails second late-stage trial

EyePoint on Monday said it would cut about 53% of its workforce and stop studies of its experimental drug for an age-related vision disease after a second late-stage trial failed. Its shares ⁠tanked more than ​75% in premarket trading.

Roy Cooper's North Carolina playbook is working. Can other Democrats copy ⁠it?

North Carolina hasn’t elected a Democrat to the US Senate in nearly 20 years, but former Governor Roy Cooper has built a double-digit lead over Republican Michael Whatley by relentlessly focusing on affordability and a blunt promise to “make stuff cost less.” At campaign stops, Cooper, 69, points to his six-year fight to expand Medicaid through a Republican-controlled legislature as ⁠evidence he can work across party lines, while attacking Trump-backed healthcare cuts that he says are hitting North Carolinians hard.

Kenya confirms eighth Ebola case as regional outbreak spreads

Kenya has confirmed one more Ebola case, bringing the total number of infections in the country to eight, Director-General for Health Patrick Amoth said on Sunday. "Today, 38 ​people were tested, and one tested positive for Ebola," Amoth said in an interview on Kenya's Citizen TV.

Bangladesh is battling measles. It's a 'real warning' to other nations

Bangladesh is battling to contain the world’s worst measles outbreak, a crisis exacerbated by weak data, inadequate ⁠outreach and vaccination gaps that experts say offers a warning to other nations about the deadly risk of falling immunisation rates. Bangladesh, whose routine vaccination programme faltered in 2025, reported 202,000 suspected measles cases – 22,000 of them laboratory-confirmed – since the start of the outbreak in mid-March to October 9, the World Health Organization said. That’s more suspected cases than any other country this ⁠year.

UK's ​PHP forms joint venture with Singapore's GIC to cut debt

Primary Health Properties expects to receive £500 million ($666.55 million) from a joint venture deal with Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC that would help the British healthcare REIT cut debt, the firm said on Monday. Here are more details:

Novartis ends mid-stage Fabhalta trial targeting serious kidney condition

Swiss drugmaker Novartis has terminated a mid-stage study testing its drug Fabhalta in patients with a serious kidney condition, citing "strategic considerations", according to a federal clinical trials registry. The trial was evaluating whether the oral medication was safe and effective for treating lupus nephritis ⁠when added to standard medical care

Cherry or tabasco? Perfumers test weight-loss drug users' appetite for food-inspired scents

From cherry and banoffee pie to tabasco and sesame, the list of food aromas popping up in luxury fragrances keeps growing. Now some perfume makers are starting to ⁠ask if weight-loss drugs might be reshaping what consumers want in a scent. So-called ⁠gourmand fragrances like Thierry Mugler's pioneering cotton candy-inspired Angel and Nina Ricci's toffee apple scent Nina have been around for decades. More recent growth in the segment has been attributed to the pandemic-era boom in online retail — when familiar food associations helped sales of perfumes that cannot be smelled before purchase — and the growing prominence of Gen Z consumers.

Germany's Merck buys Silence Therapeutics for $1.3 billion

German drugmaker Merck KGaA said on Monday ‌it will acquire Silence Therapeutics in an all-cash ‌deal for about $1.3 billion, adding precision engineered medicines and gene silencing to its portfolio. Merck will pay $20 per share for Silence, representing a premium of 130% to ​the stock's last close. Silence shares climbed 4% in premarket trading.