Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Supreme Court avoids abortion question, upholds fetal burial measure

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday sent a mixed message on abortion, refusing to consider reinstating Indiana's ban on abortions performed because of fetal disability or the sex or race of the fetus while upholding the state's requirement that fetal remains be buried or cremated after the procedure is done. Both provisions were part of a Republican-backed 2016 law signed by Vice President Mike Pence when he was Indiana's governor. The action by the justices comes at a time when numerous Republican-governed states including Alabama are approving restrictive abortion laws that the Supreme Court may be called upon to rule on in the future. Allergan to recall textured breast implants in Canada

Allergan Plc said on Tuesday it will voluntarily recall its textured breast implants from the Canadian market, after the country's health regulator suspended the company's licenses for its Biocell implants, citing increased risk of cancer. Any unused Biocell saline-filled and silicone-filled textured breast implants will be removed from the Canadian market and no longer be sold, the drugmaker said. WHO counts down Africa polio clock despite fears of new outbreak

Africa could be declared free of endemic "wild" polio early next year if a strain last seen in Nigeria almost three years ago does not resurface, the World Health Organization's Africa director said on Tuesday. Africa's last case of wild polio was recorded in Nigeria in August 2016. The country can now begin the months of paperwork needed before declaring that the virus is no longer circulating there, WHO Africa Regional Director Matshidiso Moeti told Reuters. WHO agrees watered-down resolution on transparency in drug costs

Countries at the World Health Organization agreed on Tuesday to push for clearer drug pricing, after watering down a draft resolution that would have also required pharmaceutical firms to disclose the cost of making medicines. The deal calls on governments to share more information about the prices they pay for drugs, which can vary widely around the world and are often kept shrouded in secrecy. Allergan's Vraylar wins FDA approval for bipolar depression

Allergan Plc's Vraylar won U.S. regulatory approval to treat depressive episodes of bipolar I disorder, expanding its scope of treatment to a full spectrum of symptoms related to the condition, the company said on Monday. Vraylar, which recorded a 70.3% sales jump in the first quarter, is an approved treatment in the United States for schizophrenia in adults and for manic or mixed episodes associated with bipolar I disorder. Missouri to be only U.S. state with no legal abortion provider after state action

Missouri is poised this week to become the only U.S. state without access to legal abortions as health officials refuse to renew its last clinic's license to perform the procedure, women's health services provider Planned Parenthood said on Tuesday. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services did not respond to a request for comment. J&J's greed helped fuel U.S. opioid crisis, Oklahoma claims at trial

Johnson & Johnson's greed led the drugmaker to use deceptive marketing to create an oversupply of painkillers that fueled the U.S. opioid epidemic, the state of Oklahoma alleged at the start of the first trial to result from lawsuits over the drug crisis. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, who filed the multibillion-dollar case, argued in a state court in the city of Norman that J&J should be forced to pay for helping cause the "worst manmade public health crisis in our state's history." Japan court says forced sterilizations unconstitutional, refuses compensation: media

The forced sterilization of two women decades ago as teenagers was unconstitutional, a Japanese court said on Tuesday, but rejected their demands for compensation, in the first of about 20 such cases closely watched nationwide, media said. Tens of thousands of people were sterilized, many without their consent, under a government program aimed at preventing the birth of "inferior descendants" that ran until 1996. China faces long struggle to tackle African swine fever: OIE

It will take years for China to contain the deadly African swine fever virus that has spread throughout the country, which is the world's biggest pork producer, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) said on Tuesday. China has been struggling to control the epidemic, which some analysts predict could see up to 200 million pigs die or be culled this year, causing a huge shortage of pork locally and have economic impact on the meat and feed industry globally. France to ban widely used crop fungicide over health concerns

France's health and safety regulator has decided to ban a widely used crop fungicide after classifying it as a so-called endocrine disruptor posing risks for humans and the environment. The ANSES agency said on Tuesday it was withdrawing the marketing license for 76 products containing epoxiconazole, which is commonly applied to protect cereal and sugar beet fields in France, the European Union's biggest crop producer.

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