Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Jazz Pharma's sleep disorder treatment gets FDA nod

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Jazz Pharmaceuticals Plc's treatment for patients with a form of sleep disorder, the company said on Wednesday. The drug, solriamfetol, will treat excessive sleepiness in adult patients with narcolepsy or obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Jury finding upends Bayer's Roundup defense strategy: experts

Bayer AG had hoped a new trial strategy focusing jurors on scientific evidence could stem a burgeoning tide of U.S. lawsuits over its glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup, but a second jury finding on Tuesday that the product caused cancer has narrowed the company's options, some legal experts said. Bayer shares tumbled more than 12 percent on Wednesday after a unanimous jury in San Francisco federal court found Roundup to be a "substantial factor" in causing California resident Edwin Hardeman's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. FDA allows sale of certain blood pressure drugs amid shortage

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday said it will temporarily allow certain manufacturers to sell blood pressure medications containing specified levels of a probable cancer-causing impurity in order to maintain adequate supplies of the drug. The agency said losartan medicines remaining on the market that contain the impurity N-Nitroso-N-methyl-4-aminobutyric acid (NMBA) above the acceptable limit of 0.96 parts per million (ppm) and below 9.82 ppm will be allowed until the impurity can be eliminated. U.S. jury hears more evidence as second phase of Roundup cancer trial begins

A lawyer for a man who sued Bayer AG unit Monsanto after developing cancer on Wednesday told a jury about the company's alleged efforts to influence scientists and regulators, a day after the jury found Bayer's glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup to have caused the man's disease. The jury in San Francisco federal court on Tuesday found Roundup to be a "substantial factor" in causing California resident Edwin Hardeman's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, but did not find Bayer liable. Congo Ebola outbreak spreads to city of Bunia

Health authorities in Democratic Republic of Congo have confirmed a case of Ebola in another city of close to 1 million people, the health ministry said on Wednesday. Bunia is the second-largest city in eastern Congo to confirm a case of the haemorrhagic fever during the current outbreak, which was declared last August and is believed to have killed 610 people and infected 370 more to date. Novo Nordisk submits diabetes pill for U.S. approval

Novo Nordisk has submitted its oral semaglutide drug, a pill it hopes will transform the diabetes market, for approval in the United States. The once-daily pill for treatment of type 2 diabetes is an important growth prospect for the Danish drugmaker, which faces pressure on prices from competitors and U.S. lawmakers, who have been critical of rising drug prices. Biogen scraps Alzheimer's trial, shares skid

Biogen and partner Eisai Co Ltd are ending two late-stage trials testing an Alzheimer's drug, they said Thursday, marking the latest setback for an industry keen to develop treatments for the memory-robbing disease. Shares in Biogen slid 25 percent to $81.60 in premarket trading. Study finds key details about 'punch drunk syndrome' and Alzheimer's

Scientists studying damaged brains of boxers and other sports people have found key details about a head injury-linked disease called "punch drunk syndrome" that could help the development of new diagnostics and treatments for Alzheimer's. The syndrome, also known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), is linked to repeated blows to the head and causes a type of dementia similar to Alzheimer's, which is characterized by behavioral changes, confusion and memory loss. Roche sues U.S. executives in fight over diabetes test strips

Roche is seeking damages and compensation in a U.S. lawsuit against former executives of a Utah-based company, the Swiss drugmaker's latest case targeting what it calls fraudulent schemes involving its diabetes test strips. Roche has filed several lawsuits in U.S. federal court in which it alleges individuals and companies obtained low-priced diabetes test strips meant for mail-order customers, only to re-direct them for sale via pharmacies where higher prices allowed them to profit from the difference. Piles of pigs: Swine fever outbreaks go unreported in rural China

When pigs on the Xinda Husbandry Co. Ltd breeding farm in northern China began dying in growing numbers in early January, it looked increasingly likely that the farm had been struck by the much feared African swine fever, an incurable disease that has spread rapidly across the country since last year. But after taking samples from some pigs, local officials in the Xushui district of Baoding city, about an hour's drive from Beijing, said their tests came back negative, said Sun Dawu, chairman of Hebei Dawu Agriculture Group, the farm owner.