Health News Roundup: European Patent Office declares Moderna mRNA patent invalid; WHO asks China for details on respiratory illness outbreaks and more

The agency is working with Dollar Tree to ensure an effective recall, it said, weeks after the regulator first issued a safety alert on the purchase of WanaBana pouches following reports of four children with elevated blood lead levels. WHO asks China for details on respiratory illness outbreaks The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday officially requested that China provide detailed information on an increase in respiratory illnesses and reported clusters of pneumonia in children.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

European Patent Office declares Moderna mRNA patent invalid

The European Patent Office declared a contested mRNA patent owned by Moderna invalid, the office said on Tuesday, handing a win to BioNTech and its partner Pfizer in a patent dispute between the two coronavirus vaccine makers. Moderna said in a statement that it disagreed with the office's decision and would lodge an appeal.

Polish opposition to reinstate IVF funding in social policy shift

Polish lawmakers started a debate on Wednesday to reinstate public financing for in-vitro fertilisation, marking a shift after eight years of nationalist rule which brought severe restrictions on women's reproductive rights. The Law and Justice government (PiS) lost its parliamentary majority in the Oct. 15 elections, paving the way for opposition parties from the centre-right to the left to form a ruling coalition.

Germany reports bird flu outbreak in northern part of the country

Germany has reported an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus on a poultry farm in the northern part of the country, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Wednesday, adding to a wave of cases in Europe. The outbreak killed five poultry among a flock of 24,000 on a farm in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern east of Hamburg, the Paris-based WOAH said in a report, citing German authorities.

Exclusive-Bayer holds call with bond investors after raft of bad news

Bayer held a call with investors on Monday after a raft of bad news led some of them to question whether the German group had been upfront about its prospects ahead of a $5.75 billion bond issuance, three sources familiar with the situation said on Wednesday. The bad news prompted some bond investors to question whether Bayer should sweeten the terms of the deal or outright pull it, one of the sources said.

COVID-19 slowed global progress in tobacco control - report

Global progress in policies to reduce tobacco use slowed for the first time in 12 years following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to analysis published on Wednesday by the Global Tobacco Control Progress Hub, which warned millions of people worldwide likely continued to smoke as a result. The hub, a collaboration between the non-profit Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) Canada and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, tracks the enactment of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a global treaty aimed at reducing smoking.

Recalled WanaBana puree still on Dollar Tree shelves - US FDA

The WanaBana Apple Cinnamon Puree, a product potentially contaminated with lead, was still being sold at Dollar Tree stores despite a recall that began last month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Wednesday. The agency is working with Dollar Tree to ensure an effective recall, it said, weeks after the regulator first issued a safety alert on the purchase of WanaBana pouches following reports of four children with elevated blood lead levels.

WHO asks China for details on respiratory illness outbreaks

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday officially requested that China provide detailed information on an increase in respiratory illnesses and reported clusters of pneumonia in children. Chinese authorities from the National Health Commission held a press conference on Nov. 13 to report an increase in incidence of respiratory diseases in the country, the WHO said in a statement.

Indonesian court papers reveal chain of events that led to cough syrup deaths

Indonesian court documents have revealed for the first time the chain of events that led to toxic ingredients being used in cough syrup that was among the products blamed for the deaths of more than 200 children in the country last year. According to the previously unreported 373-page court ruling in a criminal case of officials at Indonesia drugmaker Afi Farma, the seeds of the tragedy were sown in 2021 during a global shortage of pharmaceutical grade propylene gylcol (PG), a key base for syrupy medicines.

US lawmakers ask SEC to scrutinize Musk comments on Neuralink

Four U.S. lawmakers have asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether Elon Musk committed securities fraud by allegedly misleading investors about the safety of a brain implant being developed by the billionaire's firm Neuralink, according to a letter to the regulator. The request for an inquiry came from Democratic House Reps. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, and Barbara Lee and Tony Cardenas of California, according to the letter sent to the SEC on Tuesday and reviewed by Reuters.

Cameroon receives first shipment of GSK's Mosquirix malaria vaccine

Cameroon received its first shipment of Mosquirix malaria vaccines manufactured by British drugmaker GSK Plc late on Tuesday, as the nation struggles with the mosquito-borne disease that kills more than 600,000 each year globally. A batch of 331,200 doses of the vaccine - also known as RTS,S - was offloaded at Yaounde's Nsimalen International Airport, making Cameroon the first African country to receive the vaccine after pilot programmes in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi.