Health Roundup: Lynparza stalls pancreatic cancer; Merck's lung cancer treatment

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Lynparza stalls pancreatic cancer in patients with BRCA mutations: study

AstraZeneca and Merck & Co's Lynparza helped patients with advanced pancreatic cancer who carry BRCA gene mutations go nearly twice as long without their disease worsening than those who received a placebo, according to data from a late-stage clinical trial presented on Sunday. BRCA mutations are typically linked with breast and ovarian cancers but occur in other cancers as well.

Merck's Keytruda sets new five-year survival standard for advanced lung cancer

Nearly a quarter of patients who received Merck & Co's immunotherapy Keytruda as an initial treatment for advanced lung cancer were still alive after five years, according to data presented at a major medical meeting on Saturday. That represents a huge gain over the historical five-year survival rate of just 5 per cent for those with the disease prior to the introduction of medicines like Keytruda that spur the immune system to fight cancer.

China reports H5N6 bird flu outbreak in Xinjiang

China has confirmed an outbreak of highly pathogenic H5N6 bird flu in Horgos in the far western Xinjiang region. The outbreak killed 1,015 out of 2,545 birds raised by farmers in Horgos, according to a notice on the website of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs late on Friday.

Novartis hopes Kisqali data will help narrow gap to blockbuster rival

Novartis has released data showing sharply improved overall survival rates for its breast cancer drug Kisqali, which the Swiss drugmaker hopes will help it chip away at the dominance of Pfizer's blockbuster Ibrance. Novartis's Kisqali had $235 million in sales in 2018, well behind the $4.1 billion for Ibrance, as Pfizer's first-to-market drug captured the lion's share of women with metastatic HR+/HER2- cancer.

(With inputs from agencies.)