Health News Roundup: U.S. House Speaker Pelosi unveils proposal to lower drug prices; Biotech is going to the dogs - and big profits await

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

U.S. House Speaker Pelosi unveils proposal to lower drug prices

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, proposed legislation on Thursday to allow the federal government to negotiate the prices of hundreds of prescription drugs, and said she hoped for support from Republican President Donald Trump. But many of Trump's fellow Republicans, who run the Senate, are not keen on letting the government negotiate over prices, saying it amounts to price fixing. Initial reaction to Pelosi's plan was negative from both House and Senate Republicans.

U.S. cases of vaping-related illness rise to 530 as outbreak widens

U.S. health officials said on Thursday there are now 530 confirmed and probable cases and seven deaths from severe lung-related illnesses tied to vaping, and there are no signs that the outbreak is easing. That's up from 380 cases reported a week ago as health officials link more illnesses and deaths to vaping. Three-fourths of the cases are male, and two-thirds are between the ages of 18 and 34.

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Buttigieg unveils health plan

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg on Thursday unveiled his plan to reform the U.S. healthcare system by offering everyone coverage under the federal Medicare program, but not forcing people to give up private heath insurance plans. "For years, Washington politicians have allowed the pharmaceutical industry, giant insurance companies, and powerful hospital systems to profit off of people when they are at their sickest and most vulnerable," said Buttigieg, who is mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

Handwashing beats sanitizer for killing flu virus on hands

(Reuters Health) - Health workers who use hand sanitizer between patients may be more likely to spread flu germs than those who take the time to wash their hands, a recent experiment suggests. That's because fresh mucus from infected patients interferes with the ability of the alcohol in hand sanitizer to reach the concentrations needed to deactivate the flu virus, researchers report in mSphere.

Unsafe sex: Argentina crisis deflates condom sales as costs rise

In South America's capital of romance, Argentine lovers are cutting back on one important cost: contraception. Amid a biting recession, a sharp currency devaluation and painful inflation, sales of condoms and birth control pills have tumbled, pharmacists and manufacturers say.

Neurotoxin may have caused diplomats' illness in Cuba: study

Fumigation against mosquitoes in Cuba and not "sonic attacks" may have caused some 40 U.S. and Canadian diplomats and family members in Havana to fall ill, according to a new study commissioned by the Canadian government. The incidents took place from late 2016 into 2018, causing the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to charge that diplomats were attacked by some sort of secret weapon. Canada has refrained from such charges.

Medicinal cannabis could bring in $6 billion a year for Colombia, government says

Colombia could export $6 billion a year in medicinal cannabis products, making marijuana its third-largest source of foreign exchange, the government said on Thursday, as investors called for simpler regulations for marijuana producers. Colombian law already regulates the possession, production, distribution, sale and export of seeds and other marijuana products like oils and creams, but investors say the export approval process is tortuous.

Democrats' drug pricing proposal 'dead on arrival' in Senate: leading Republican

The second most powerful Republican in the U.S. Senate on Thursday said that a Democratic plan on drug pricing would not survive in the Republican-dominated chamber, calling it "heavy-handed." Senator John Thune, who guides votes as the Republican whip, said the plan would be "dead on arrival" if it passed the Democrat-led House of Representatives and went to the Senate.

Video games more often blamed when school shooters are white

(Reuters Health) - In the wake of school shootings, people are more likely to blame violent video games for the crime when perpetrators are white than when they are black, a small U.S. study suggests. Researchers analyzed 204,796 news articles about 204 mass shootings in the U.S. dating from 1978 - the year after the release of the Atari 2600 game console - to 2018. Video games were eight times more likely to be mentioned when the shooting occurred at a school and when the perpetrator was a white male than when the shooter was an African American male or the incident happened elsewhere.

Biotech is going to the dogs - and big profits await

For Jessica Lescault there is no question that her 6-year old English bulldog "Moose" deserves cutting-edge biotechnology cancer treatment as much as any human patient. "Pets are your loved ones, pets should be your family, pets are not something you keep on a chain in the backyard," the intensive-care nurse from Somers, Connecticut, said.