Health News Roundup: Healthcare costs in bureaucracy; air contamination in Toronto subway and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

More than a third of U.S. healthcare costs go to bureaucracy

U.S. insurers and providers spent more than $800 billion in 2017 on administration, or nearly $2,500 per person - more than four times the per-capita administrative costs in Canada's single-payer system, a new study finds. Over one-third of all healthcare costs in the U.S. were due to insurance company overhead and provider time spent on billing, versus about 17% spent on administration in Canada, researchers reported in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Merck's Keytruda shows mixed results in phase 3 trial for small cell lung cancer

Merck & Co said a phase 3 trial of cancer drug Keytruda in combination with chemotherapy showed an increase in the number of time patients lived with small cell lung cancer without it getting worse, but did not extend overall survival. While the blockbuster drug showed improvement in overall survival for patients treated with Keytruda in combination with chemotherapy, it did not meet statistical significance, the company said on Monday.

Too old? Too slow? No! Debut marathoners may add years to life

First-time marathon runners can add years to their lives and reap the health rewards of lower blood pressure and healthier arteries, even if they take on the challenge in mid- to later life, research showed on Monday. "It appears to never be too late," said co-lead researcher Charlotte Manisty of University College London.

Few doctors can legally prescribe opioid-addiction drug

Fewer than one in 10 primary care providers in the U.S. can prescribe the opioid-addiction medication buprenorphine, and access is even more scarce in rural counties hardest hit by overdoses, a new study suggests. Since 2000, physicians have been able to seek waivers from the federal government to prescribe buprenorphine, seen as an alternative to methadone dispensed at federally approved clinics, said study co-author Ryan McBain of the RAND Corporation in Boston. More recently, nurse practitioners and physician assistants have been allowed to seek waivers, too, helping to drive a four-fold increase in the number of clinicians nationwide able to prescribe buprenorphine.

Bloody Philippine drug war fails to curb methamphetamine supply: VP

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs has only managed to curb the supply of methamphetamines by less than 1% of annual consumption, proof that it has been a bloody failure, his main political rival, the vice president, said on Monday. Thousands of suspected drug traffickers and users have been killed in the campaign that Duterte launched soon after he won the election in 2016.

Apellis' blood disorder drug outdoes Alexion's Soliris in improving hemoglobin levels

Apellis Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Tuesday its experimental drug for a blood disorder showed greater improvement in patients' hemoglobin levels than Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc's Soliris, in a late-stage study. Shares of Apellis surged 57.37% to $47.5 before the bell, while those of Alexion dropped 4.4% to $101.8.

Drug developers take fresh aim at 'guided-missile' cancer drugs

Dozens of drugmakers are conducting human trials for a record 89 therapies that pair antibodies with toxic agents to fight cancer, evidence of renewed confidence in an approach that has long fallen short of its promise, an analysis compiled for Reuters shows. These antibody-drug conjugates, or ADCs, from companies including AztraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, are described by researchers as "guided missiles" packing a powerful anti-cancer punch.

Health report confirms air contamination in Toronto subway

Air in Toronto’s subway system is polluted, the public health department said in a report issued on Monday calling on the transit system to mitigate it. The report found that fine particle air pollution, or PM2.5, exposure levels in the transit system warrants mitigation “because reductions would have health benefits for passengers.”

(With inputs from agencies.)