Health News Roundup: GSK pharma head emphasizes on speed; Ebola's spread shows how science needs societies to succeed

GSK pharma head flags need for speed in high-pressure drug market

Doing things one at a time in drug development is not a luxury that GlaxoSmithKline can afford any longer, the head of pharmaceuticals at Britain's largest drugmaker told Reuters. Luke Miels, who joined GSK in September 2017 after a contract dispute with his former employer AstraZeneca, said picking the most promising projects and developing them quickly now takes precedence over spreading the risk of failure.

Roche wins Japan approval for personalized cancer drug Rozlytrek

Swiss drugmaker Roche's push into personalized cancer medicines hit a milestone on Tuesday with Japanese approval of a new drug, Rozlytrek, that targets patients who must be identified via genetic profiling. Japan is the first country to give its blessing to Rozlytrek, also known as entrectinib, targeting people with NTRK fusion-positive solid tumours, across 10 different tumour types including breast, colorectal, neuroendocrine, lung and pancreatic cancers.

French drugmaker Sanofi, Google to use data tech for innovations

French healthcare company Sanofi has teamed up with Google to work on innovations, aimed at using emerging data technologies to change how medicines and health services will be delivered in future. Sanofi and Google will use data sets to improve their understanding of key diseases and extract patients' insights and feedback, the companies said in a joint statement.

Ebola's spread shows how science needs societies to succeed

The persistence of Congo's Ebola outbreak and its deadly spread to Uganda in recent days show how societal issues are as crucial as scientific advances in controlling disease outbreaks, specialists in global public health say. Medical scientists, prompted by a devastating West African Ebola epidemic between 2013 and 2016, have worked fast to develop cutting edge vaccines, treatments and antibody-based therapies they hoped would prevent or halt future outbreaks of the virus. That includes an Ebola vaccine developed by Merck & Co Inc that proved more than 95 percent effective in clinical trials.

U.S. records 22 new measles cases, bringing year's total to 1,044

The United States recorded 22 new measles cases last week, bringing the year's total number of cases to 1,044 in the worst outbreak of the disease since 1992, federal health officials said on Monday. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the number of cases of the highly contagious and sometimes deadly disease rose 2.2% in the week ended June 13 from the prior week. The 2019 outbreak, which has spread to 28 states, is the worst since 1992 when 2,126 cases were recorded.

Uganda clears three experimental Ebola treatments, watches for spread

Health workers have got the all-clear to use three experimental Ebola treatments in Uganda, a week after the deadly disease spread over the border from the Democratic Republic of Congo, authorities said on Tuesday. Two people who had travelled from Congo died in Uganda last week, the World Health Organization said. A three-year-old boy who was sent back to Congo after testing positive for the disease died at the weekend, Congo's health ministry said.

Common nerve pain drug linked to suicidal behaviour, overdose

A class of medications used for nerve and muscle pain, including the popular drug Lyrica, increases users' risks for suicidal behaviour, unintentional overdoses, injuries and car accidents - and the risks are particularly high for teens and young adults, new research shows. Lyrica (pregabalin) and the older drug gabapentin, collectively known as gabapentinoids, are approved for treating several types of pain and for preventing seizures in patients with epilepsy. Prescribing of these medications has increased sharply in recent years, while off-label use, meaning for a condition other than the approved indication, is extremely common, Dr Seena Fazel of the University of Oxford in the UK and colleagues write in the BMJ.

China to suspend pork imports from Canadian company Frigo Royal

China will block pork imports from Canada's Frigo Royal Inc after a batch of the Canadian firm's pork was found to contain the banned feed additive ractopamine, the customs agency said in a statement on its Wechat account on Tuesday. Ractopamine is used by pork producers in some countries to make leaner pigs but China does not allow its use and does not tolerate residues of the compound in imported meat.

Vietnam culls 2.5 million pigs to halt African swine fever outbreak: officials

Vietnam has culled more than 2.5 million pigs to contain the spread of an African swine fever outbreak that is in danger of infecting every province of the country, an agriculture ministry official said on Tuesday. The virus, which is deadly to pigs, was first detected in Vietnam in February and has spread to farms in 58 of the country's 63 provinces, according to Nguyen Van Long, head of epidemiology at Vietnam's Department of Animal Health.

AstraZeneca's Lynparza gets EU nod as first-line ovarian cancer maintenance treatment

British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc on Tuesday said its cancer medicine Lynparza was approved as a first-line maintenance treatment for a type of advanced ovarian cancer by the European Commission, following a panel's consent in April. Lynparza, being jointly developed by AstraZeneca along with U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co, can now be used in patients who are in response following chemotherapy for advanced BRCA-mutated ovarian cancer in Europe, AstraZeneca said.