Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Abbott device helps in cutting blood sugar in type 2 diabetics: study

Insulin-dependent patients with type 2 diabetes saw a significant drop in their blood sugar levels after wearing Abbott Laboratories Inc's continuous glucose monitoring system for three months compared with those who use routine fingerstick testing, researchers said on Saturday. The study, which was presented at the American Diabetes Association meeting in San Francisco, assessed the medical records of 363 type 2 diabetics in France, Germany and Austria between three and six months. Co-owner, ex-employee of pharmacy in U.S. meningitis outbreak acquitted

A federal judge on Friday tossed the convictions of a co-owner and former employee of a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy accused of conspiring to help it evade regulatory oversight before its drugs caused a deadly 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak. U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns in Boston ruled that New England Compounding Center co-owner Gregory Conigliaro and former employee Sharon Carter did not have fair warning their actions could subject them to prosecution. Under pressure, Biden drifts leftward on abortion, climate change

The Joe Biden Express to the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination went a bit off track this week. Since Biden joined the race in April, his campaign has worked to craft an aura of inevitability around the former vice president’s bid. Biden has engaged President Donald Trump more often than his Democratic rivals, while speaking in broad, thematic outlines rather pinpointing policy. USDA investigates unapproved GMO wheat found in Washington state

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed the discovery of unapproved, genetically modified (GM) wheat plants growing in an un-planted agricultural field in Washington state. There was no evidence the wheat had entered the food supply, the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said in a statement on Friday. The wheat is resistant to glyphosate, a widely used herbicide commonly referred to as Roundup. Experimental drug delays type 1 diabetes onset in mid-stage trial

In people at high risk for type 1 diabetes, 14 days of therapy with the experimental drug teplizumab delayed development of the disease by a year or more, according to results from a mid-stage study presented Sunday. The 76 study participants, who ranged in age from 8 to 49, faced a high risk of type 1 diabetes in part because their relatives had the autoimmune disease, which kills the beta cells in the pancreas that make and release insulin. Also, the volunteers all had tests showing diabetes-related autoantibodies that attack the pancreas, plus unhealthy blood sugar levels.