Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Sientra gets FDA warning letter for breast implants, shares fall

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning letter to Sientra Inc for its silicone gel breast implants that were approved by the agency for breast augmentation and reconstruction procedures. Shares of the company slipped 4.2 percent to $8.83 in afternoon trading. Study finds weight loss target for morbidly obese before knee surgery

For morbidly obese patients having knee replacement surgery, losing at least 20 pounds beforehand leads to shorter hospital stays and lower odds of being discharged to a facility, a new study has found. Surgeons often require or strongly suggest that morbidly obese patients lose weight before total knee arthroplasty (TKA), or knee replacement. "Many people are told to lose five or 10 pounds before the surgery but we don't actually know how much weight you have to lose for it to lead to a meaningful improvement," Dr. Benjamin Keeney of Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire, told Reuters Health by phone. Asthma medication use varies among Latino youth

A new U.S. study of groups of Latino youth with asthma sheds light on potential health disparities. Puerto Rican children were less likely than Mexican kids to use asthma inhalers regularly, researchers found. In the year-long study, 123 Mexican and Puerto Rican children with asthma in Phoenix, Arizona and New York City received free inhalers that monitored their daily use of inhaled corticosteroids. These medicines help prevent asthma attacks and hospitalizations. WHO panel calls for registry of all human gene editing research

It would be irresponsible for any scientist to conduct human gene-editing studies in people, and a central registry of research plans should be set up to ensure transparency, World Health Organization experts said on Tuesday. After its first two-day meeting in Geneva, the WHO panel of gene editing experts - which was established in December after a Chinese scientist said he had edited the genes of twin babies - said it had agreed a framework for setting future standards. Ohio accuses UnitedHealth's OptumRx of drug overcharges in lawsuit

Ohio's attorney general on Monday said he had filed a lawsuit against UnitedHealth Group Inc's OptumRx unit, saying the pharmacy benefit manager had overcharged the state nearly $16 million for prescription drugs. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost's lawsuit followed a probe into the extent pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) like OptumRx had engaged in pricing practices that resulted in the state overpaying for drugs for people covered by state health programs. Canada to create national drug agency to cut cost of medicines

Canada will create a national drug agency to help cut the cost of prescription medications as part of a plan to broaden the state-funded healthcare program, the finance ministry said in its budget on Tuesday. Unlike other countries with universal healthcare, Canada does not cover prescription drugs, leaving most Canadians to rely on a mixture of public and private insurance plans. GSK reports positive data from trial of endometrial cancer drug

GlaxoSmithKline said on Tuesday a study testing its experimental drug dostarlimab in women with recurrent or advanced endometrial cancer showed promising results. Results from the GARNET study showed the drug elicited clinically meaningful and durable response rates when used to treat certain types of tumors, GSK said. With high-tech glasses, Japanese ALS patient makes the beat go on

The music booms and lights flash as Masatane Muto, a wheelchair-bound disc jockey, uses is eyes to put on a show at a recent Tokyo music festival. Muto, who lost the use of his hands to Lou Gehrig's Disease, wears a pair of high-tech glasses connected to an app that controls music-mixing software. FDA puts partial hold on clinical trials of AbbVie's cancer drug

AbbVie Inc said on Tuesday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration placed a partial clinical hold on all trials of its cancer drug Venclexta for multiple myeloma, after a review of data found a higher proportion of deaths in the Venclexta arm of the late-stage study. Data review from the trial showed a higher number of deaths among patients taking Venclexta, compared to those given a placebo alongside other treatment. San Francisco officials look to ban sale of e-cigarettes

San Francisco officials on Tuesday proposed legislation that would ban the sale of e-cigarettes from companies such as Juul until a review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as part of the city's efforts to tackle underage vaping. District Supervisor Shamann Walton will also introduce legislation at a meeting of the city's board of supervisors to prohibit the manufacture and distribution of all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, on city property.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)