Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. WHO drug pricing talks may fail to end secrecy, activists fear

Governments are working on a drug pricing transparency deal at the World Health Organization's (WHO) annual assembly, but activists said on Thursday they fear crucial costs may be left out, enabling pharmaceutical firms to keep prices high. Campaigners say some drugs are exorbitantly priced, even though they are often developed with public funding, and health providers often pay far too much, since governments negotiate prices without knowing what the treatment cost to develop. Exclusive: JPMorgan cuts ties with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma - sources

JPMorgan Chase & Co has cut ties with Purdue Pharma LP over the OxyContin maker's alleged role in the U.S. opioid crisis, forcing it to find a new bank to manage cash and bill payments, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The move makes JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank by assets, the most high-profile corporation known to have distanced itself from Purdue and its wealthy owners, the Sackler family, amid thousands of lawsuits alleging the company pushed addictive painkillers while downplaying their abuse and overdose risks. Swimming, s'mores and shots: Camps harden vaccine rules in U.S. measles outbreak

As the United States battles its worst measles outbreak in 25 years, summer camps are tightening their policies on vaccines, with some prepared to turn away children whose parents opted not to vaccinate them against the disease. With more than 10 million American children attending summer day and overnight camps, camp owners and industry associations said they are urging parents to follow medical experts' advice to prevent their camps from becoming transmission sites for the highly contagious and sometimes deadly illness. GSK's shingles vaccine approved for use in China in adults aged 50 and above

GlaxoSmithKline Plc said on Thursday its shingles vaccine had been approved for use in China in adults aged 50 and above. Shingrix was launched in 2017 and has witnessed robust growth, with the British drugmaker predicting the sale of the vaccine to be "significantly" more than 1 billion pounds in 2019. 'Smart' hearing aids would identify speakers in crowded room

People wearing hearing aids often struggle to differentiate between speakers in a crowded environment, but a small experiment suggests that brain-controlled assistive hearing devices would be able to detect which voice the user is paying attention to, and enhance it. To do this, the devices would need to separate individual voices in the room, then decode a user's brainwaves to identify the one the user is giving the most attention, the study authors write in the journal Science Advances. Novartis has 25 blockbusters in the pipeline: CEO

Novartis has 25 potential blockbuster treatments in development, the company said ahead of a management event in the United States on Thursday. "Our pipeline is industry-leading with more than 25 potential blockbusters and this pace of innovation positions Novartis well for the future", said Novartis Chief Executive Vas Narasimhan in a statement. African swine fever threatens French deli meats producers

French deli meats makers are being squeezed by a surge in pork prices linked to an African swine fever epidemic that has decimated the pig herd in China, they said on Thursday, warning of potential bankruptcies in the sector. African swine fever, a highly contagious virus, has spread to every province on the Chinese mainland since August last year, killing millions of animals and prompting China - the world's biggest pork producer - to turn to imports earlier this year. Lens replacement because of cataracts may improve sleep

(Reuters Health) - Seniors who get new lenses implanted during cataract surgery may not only see better but also experience better sleep, suggests a new study of how light entering the eye regulates the body's internal clock. In the small laboratory study, researchers determined that people with new lenses spent more time in deep sleep and performed better on tests of cognition than healthy age-matched individuals, according to the results published in JAMA Ophthalmology. U.N. creates new Ebola chief role to tackle security, political issues in Congo

The United Nations named an Emergency Ebola Response Coordinator on Thursday, creating a new position to boost efforts to contain a 10-month epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has killed more than 1,200 people. The drive to rein in the deadly virus has been hampered by attacks on treatment centres by armed groups operating in Congo’s lawless east as well as by distrust among local residents, many of whom view the disease as a conspiracy. Weight-training may help reduce hot flashes

Postmenopausal women can fight off hot flashes and night sweats by pumping iron, a new clinical trial shows. "Resistance training is already recommended for all women always, but now we can see it may be effective also for hot flashes around menopause," Dr. Emilia Berin of Linkoping University in Sweden, who led the study, told Reuters Health.