Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. U.S. brings first criminal case against major drug distributor over opioids

The U.S. government on Tuesday filed its first criminal charges against a major drug distributor and company executives over their alleged roles in fueling the nation's opioid epidemic by putting profits ahead of patients' safety. Rochester Drug Co-operative Inc (RDC), one of the 10 largest U.S. drug distributors, agreed to pay a $20 million fine and enter a five-year deferred prosecution agreement to resolve charges it turned a blind eye to thousands of suspicious orders for opioids. U.S. records 71 new measles cases in week as outbreak spreads

The United States recorded 71 new measles cases last week, a 13 percent increase as the country faces its second-worst outbreak of the disease in almost two decades, federal health officials said on Monday. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had recorded 626 cases of the highly contagious and sometimes deadly disease in 22 states as of April 19, the highest rate of infection in five years. Merck's Keytruda wins FDA approval as combination therapy for kidney cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Merck & Co Inc's cancer therapy, Keytruda, as part of a combination therapy for previously untreated patients with the most common type of kidney cancer, the company said on Monday. The drug was approved in combination with Pfizer Inc's Inlyta to treat advanced renal cell carcinoma. In many states, pregnancy invalidates a woman's DNR

Most states have statutes that invalidate a woman's advance directive if she is pregnant, a U.S. study finds. And because those statutes are often not clearly outlined in the DNR form, women filling out an advance directive most likely would not know that it wouldn't apply if they were pregnant, researchers reported in JAMA. "Two-thirds of states that had restrictions didn't disclose that in the advance directive document," said study leader Dr. Erin DeMartino of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. "So a person could in good faith fill out a DNR and assume that unless she decides to annul it herself it would be a valid document moving forward." Americans get more sedentary as computer use surges

Most Americans spend at least two hours a day watching television or videos, and a new study suggests they're becoming more sedentary as they devote more remaining free time to sitting in front of computers. Researchers examined data on almost 52,000 people, ages five and up, collected between 2001 and 2016. By the end of the study period, a high proportion of people at all ages spent at least two hours daily sitting watching TV or videos: 62 percent of 5- to 11-year-olds; 59 percent of 12- to 19-year-olds; 62 percent of adults ages 20 to 64; and 84 percent of older adults. Transgender U.S. adults have higher risk of poor health

Transgender adults may be more likely to have unhealthy habits and medical issues that negatively impact their quality of life than people whose gender identity matches what it says on their birth certificates, a U.S. study suggests. Researchers examined survey data from 3,075 transgender adults as well as 719,567 adults who are cisgender, meaning their gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth. Walgreens to restrict tobacco product sales to customers under 21 years

Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc said on Tuesday its drugstores will sell tobacco products to customers who are at least 21 years old under a new policy, effective September. In the face of an "epidemic" rise in tobacco products use among middle and high school students, the U.S. health regulator has been introducing new policies to restrict teen access to such products. Teva stops testing its migraine drug as cluster headache treatment

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd said on Tuesday it would stop developing its migraine drug, Ajovy, for treating cluster headaches after the company found the treatment was unlikely to meet the main goal of a late-stage trial. The drug, known generically as fremanezumab, competes with rival treatments from Eli Lilly & Co and Amgen Inc. Medicare hospital fund reserves likely to be exhausted in 2026: U.S. report

Medicare's hospital insurance fund will be depleted in 2026, as previously forecast, and Social Security program costs are likely to exceed total income in 2020 for the first time since 1982, according to a government report released on Monday. The report from the board of trustees for Social Security and Medicare also projected that Social Security funds could be depleted by 2035, leading to potential reductions in expected payouts to retirees and other beneficiaries. Swine fever will hurt Brazil soy exports, lift China meat sales: minister

Brazilian soy exports to China will definitely decline this year as African swine fever in the world's No. 2 economy cuts demand for the animal feed, but potential growth in meat exports would offset this, Brazil's agriculture minister said on Monday. Speaking in a huddle with journalists, Tereza Cristina Dias said a Chinese outbreak of African swine fever, which kills pigs but poses no danger to humans, threatens yet offers opportunities for Brazil's agricultural exports.