Health News Roundup: Moderna CEO to testify in senate on proposed vaccine price hike; WHO maintains public health emergency alert for mpox and more

The Justice Department's court filing said the United States should be liable for any infringement of Arbutus Biopharma Corp and Genevant Sciences GmbH's patents that took place under Moderna's contract to provide shots for the government's nationwide vaccination effort. Explainer-Bird flu: what are the risks to people and animals? Countries ranging from the United States and Britain to France and Japan have suffered record losses of poultry in outbreaks of avian flu in the past year.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Moderna CEO to testify in senate on proposed vaccine price hike

Senator Bernie Sanders said on Wednesday Moderna Inc's chief executive officer Stéphane Bancel will testify next month in front of the senate on the drugmaker's plans to raise the price of its coronavirus vaccine. In January, Sanders had written to Bancel to refrain from quadrupling the price of COVID-19 vaccine, after Moderna said it was considering pricing its vaccine at $110 to $130 per dose in the United States, when it shifts from government contracting to commercial distribution.

WHO maintains public health emergency alert for mpox

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Wednesday said mpox remained a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), its highest level of alert, citing continued transmission in some countries. Mpox - which spreads via close contact and tends to cause flu-like symptoms and pus-filled skin lesions - was declared a global health emergency by the WHO in July 2022. The organisation maintained its alert in November.

U.S. FDA panel backs OTC opioid overdose drug, proposes label changes

Emergent BioSolutions Inc's over-the-counter version of opioid overdose-reversing drug received unanimous support from U.S. Food and Drug Administration's panel of advisers, sending shares of the contract drugmaker up nearly 16% after market. The vote puts the naloxone-based treatment Narcan on track to potentially become the first opioid overdose drug to be sold OTC nationwide. Naloxone rapidly reverses or blocks the effects of an overdose, restoring normal respiration.

U.S. backs Moderna, says government should face COVID-19 vaccine lawsuit

The U.S. government should face a patent lawsuit over COVID-19 vaccines, not vaccine maker Moderna Inc, the Department of Justice told a Delaware federal court on Tuesday. The Justice Department's court filing said the United States should be liable for any infringement of Arbutus Biopharma Corp and Genevant Sciences GmbH's patents that took place under Moderna's contract to provide shots for the government's nationwide vaccination effort.

Explainer-Bird flu: what are the risks to people and animals?

Countries ranging from the United States and Britain to France and Japan have suffered record losses of poultry in outbreaks of avian flu in the past year. The disease, which experts said is being spread by migratory birds, reached South American nations such as Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia for the first time.

Britain's NICE to speed up reviews of COVID-19 treatments

Britain's agency that determines if medicines should be used in the National Health Service (NHS) said on Thursday it is speeding up how it decides if COVID-19 therapies are still effective against circulating variants. The new review process will enable the agency to update its recommendations on the cost-effectiveness of COVID treatments so they can be made available more swiftly to patients, it said.

EU regulator expects eventually to introduce annual COVID shots

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) expects COVID vaccination campaigns to be conducted once a year, similar to the approach with flu inoculation, it said on Wednesday. Though the COVID-causing virus is not yet behaving like a seasonal virus involved in winter waves in temperate climates, the EMA's head of health threats and vaccines strategy, Marco Cavaleri, told a news briefing that "this might be the direction it will be going".

More South American nations report bird flu cases; Brazil remains free

The confirmation of more bird flu cases in South America raised alarm bells in Brazil, which remains free of contagion even after its close neighbors Argentina and Uruguay confirmed cases there on Wednesday. In a press conference to discuss the global sanitary hazard, Brazilian Agriculture Minister Carlos Favaro said Brazil, the world's biggest chicken exporter, would bolster measures to prevent outbreaks as the virus continued to spread.

Bird flu spreads to new countries, threatens non-stop "war" on poultry

Avian flu has reached new corners of the globe and become endemic for the first time in some wild birds that transmit the virus to poultry, according to veterinarians and disease experts, who warn it is now a year-round problem. Reuters spoke to more than 20 experts and farmers on four continents who said the prevalence of the virus in the wild signals that record outbreaks will not abate soon on poultry farms, ramping up threats to the world's food supply. They warned that farmers must view the disease as a serious risk all year, instead of focusing prevention efforts during spring migration seasons for wild birds.

Disease the new threat as Turkey faces post-quake water shortage

More than a week after his home was wrecked in a deadly earthquake that hit southern Turkey, Mohammad Emin's body is still covered in dust and grime. Like countless other victims of a catastrophe that killed more than 41,000 in Turkey and Syria, he is still waiting for a wash - affected by a shortage of clean water that international health bodies say poses a risk to public health.

(With inputs from agencies.)