Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. U.S. jury says Bayer must pay $80 million to man in Roundup cancer trial

A U.S. jury on Wednesday awarded $80 million to a man who claimed his use of Bayer AG's glyphosate-based weed killer Roundup caused his cancer, in the latest legal setback for the company facing thousands of similar lawsuits. The jury in San Francisco federal court said the company was liable for plaintiff Edwin Hardeman's non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Hospital pharmacists face dozens of drug shortages yearly

More than two-thirds of pharmacists in U.S. hospitals deal with at least 50 drug shortages every year, according to a new study that suggests hospital staff are often forced to ration life-saving medicines as a result. Researchers surveyed 719 pharmacists at large and small hospitals across the country in 2018. Every one of them reported experiencing at least one drug shortage in the past year, and 69 percent had dealt with at least 50 shortages in that time. New Jersey jury finds J&J not liable in talc cancer trial; company settles three other cases

A New Jersey jury on Wednesday cleared Johnson & Johnson of liability in a lawsuit brought by a man who said that asbestos in the company's talcum powder products caused his mesothelioma. The jury delivered its unanimous verdict in Middlesex County Superior Court in New Brunswick, just miles from J&J's headquarters, in the case of plaintiff Ricardo Rimondi. Trump says he can produce a better healthcare plan than Obamacare

U.S. President Donald Trump pledged on Wednesday to deliver a better healthcare system than Obamacare if the Supreme Court tosses out his predecessor's signature domestic achievement, a potentially hazardous claim as he seeks re-election. Trump defended his administration's decision to step up its assault on the healthcare law passed under former President Barack Obama, which expanded healthcare coverage to about 20 million Americans. U.S. judge blocks Medicaid work requirements in Kentucky, Arkansas

A federal judge on Wednesday overturned the Trump administration's approval of plans by Kentucky and Arkansas to impose work requirements on people seeking Medicaid health insurance benefits. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg ruled that the Department of Health and Human Services had failed to adequately consider the extent to which the Republican-led states' plans would cause significant numbers of people to lose coverage. Novartis MS drug wins FDA's blessing amid scrutiny of $88,000 annual price

Novartis AG has won U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for multiple sclerosis drug Mayzent as the Swiss company targets patients whose disease advances from intermittent attacks to a gradually worsening condition. Novartis has priced the treatment at $88,000 annually, head of pharmaceuticals Paul Hudson told Reuters, a level exceeding some other MS drugs and one that may draw scrutiny from payers. Unvaccinated children face public space ban in New York measles outbreak

A New York suburb has banned children not vaccinated against measles from public spaces, such as schools and shopping malls, as it fights the state's worst outbreak in decades of the potentially deadly disease. Rockland County declared a state of emergency on Tuesday and said the ban would remain in place for 30 days or until unvaccinated children get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shot. Big Pharma accused of 'endless talk, no action' on antibiotic threat

The pharmaceutical industry should match its words with action on researching new antibiotics to address the threat posed by drug-resistant superbugs, a former UK government adviser said on Wednesday. In a strongly-worded attack on major drug companies, Jim O'Neill, who headed a British government global review of antimicrobial resistance in 2016, said the industry had produced "endless talk and no action", and was engaged in little more than "spewing out nonsense" about the problem. Amid ruined lives, Mozambique's cyclone survivors face cholera, diarrhea

Dozens of fragile patients poured into a clinic in the wrecked Mozambican port city of Beira on Wednesday, as the government said it had confirmed the first five cases of cholera in the wake of deadly Cyclone Idai. Thousands of people were trapped for more than a week in submerged villages without access to clean water after the cyclone smashed into Mozambique on March 14, causing catastrophic flooding. Relief efforts have increasingly focused on containing outbreaks of waterborne and infectious diseases. Dense breast notification laws tied to more screening, cancer diagnoses

State laws requiring women with dense breasts to be told about the benefits of following up a mammogram with further tests are associated with higher rates of additional screening and more diagnoses for breast cancer, a U.S. study finds. Laws that only require women to be told they have dense breasts, without any further information, don't seem to make a difference in extra screenings or cancers detected, the study team reports in American Journal of Public Health.