Health News Roundup: White House urges COVID boosters to protect against spreading BA.5 subvariant; San Francisco reaches $58 million opioid settlement with Teva, Allergan and more

Hospital-acquired bacterial infections also rose more than 15% in 2020 from 2019, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. Amgen's Lumakras/immunotherapy combo data held for August lung cancer meeting Early trial data on Amgen Inc's Lumakras was released on Tuesday by the World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC), but meeting organizers decided to hold until Aug. 7 results from a highly anticipated study in combination with drugs that help the immune system attack cancer.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

White House urges COVID boosters to protect against spreading BA.5 subvariant

The White House on Tuesday urged Americans over age 50 to get vaccination boosters against COVID-19 as the fast-spreading Omicron BA.5 subvariant takes hold across the United States and said doing so now would not preclude another shot this fall. U.S. health officials warned that the variant, which makes up a majority of cases in the country, was more resistant than previous variants to immunity, including from prior COVID-19 infection.

San Francisco reaches $58 million opioid settlement with Teva, Allergan

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and AbbVie's Allergan unit on Tuesday reached a $58 million settlement with the city of San Francisco just before the completion of a trial over claims that they fueled an opioid epidemic in the city. Under the deal announced by City Attorney David Chiu, Israel-based Teva will pay $25 million in cash and contribute a $20 million supply of the overdose-reversal drug Narcan. AbbVie will pay $13 million.

WHO says COVID-19 remains a global health emergency

The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that COVID-19 remains a global emergency, nearly 2-1/2 years after it was first declared. The Emergency Committee, made up of independent experts, said in a statement that rising cases, ongoing viral evolution and pressure on health services in a number of countries meant that the situation was still an emergency.

Two pig heart transplants succeed in brain-dead recipients

Surgeons at New York University (NYU) have successfully transplanted genetically-engineered pig hearts into two brain-dead people, researchers said on Tuesday, moving a step closer to a long-term goal of using pig parts to address the shortage of human organs for transplant. The hearts functioned normally, with no signs of rejection during the three-day experiments in June and July, they said at a news conference.

China reports 338 new COVID cases for July 12 vs 424 a day

China reported 338 new COVID-19 infections on July 12, of which 98 were symptomatic and 240 were asymptomatic, the National Health Commission said on Wednesday. That is compared with 424 new cases a day earlier, 107 symptomatic and 317 asymptomatic infections, which China counts separately.

U.S. appeals court revives Roundup weedkiller cancer lawsuit

A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived a lawsuit by a Georgia man claiming Bayer AG's Roundup weedkiller caused his cancer, the latest in a string of legal defeats for the company as it seeks to avoid potentially billions of dollars in damages.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Montgomery, Alabama, rejected Bayer's argument that federal law shielded it from state law claims like the one brought by John Carson, who said he was diagnosed with a type of cancer called malignant fibrous histiocytoma in 2016 after using Roundup for 30 years. Carson said the company should have warned of cancer risk on the product's label.

U.S. deaths from antibiotic-resistant 'superbugs' rose 15% in 2020

U.S. deaths from bacteria resistant to antibiotics, also known as 'superbugs', jumped 15% in 2020 as the drugs were widely dispensed to treat COVID-19 and fight off bacterial infections during long hospitalizations, enabling the bugs to evolve, a U.S. government report said on Tuesday. Hospital-acquired bacterial infections also rose more than 15% in 2020 from 2019, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.

Amgen's Lumakras/immunotherapy combo data held for the August lung cancer meeting

Early trial data on Amgen Inc's Lumakras was released on Tuesday by the World Conference on Lung Cancer (WCLC), but meeting organizers decided to hold until Aug. 7 results from a highly anticipated study in combination with drugs that help the immune system attack cancer. The study, which will be the first report of how well Lumakras works in combination with immunotherapies - Merck & Co's Keytruda and Roche Holding AG's Tecentriq - was selected to be part of the press program at the organization's Vienna meeting, WCLC spokesman Chris Martin said.

South Korea's PM warns of COVID surge as cases hit two-month high

Daily COVID-19 infections in South Korea have jumped above 40,000 for the first time in two months, with the government warning of a potential five-fold surge in the coming months. "Daily infections could soar to as many as 200,000 between mid-August and late September," Prime Minister Han Duck-soo told a government COVID response meeting, citing the view of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) and experts.

U.S. Justice Dept launches task force to protect women's reproductive rights

The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday unveiled a new task force that aims to protect women's reproductive healthcare freedom, after the Supreme Court last month overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling which recognized women's constitutional right to abortion. The task force, which will be chaired by Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta, will monitor and evaluate state legislation and enforcement actions that threaten to "infringe on federal legal protections" related to reproductive healthcare, the department said.