Health News Roundup: US FDA panel backs expanded use of J&J, Bristol Myers' CAR-T therapies; U.N. agency in Gaza says one in three children under 2 is acutely malnourished and more

"Children's malnutrition is spreading fast and reaching unprecedented levels in Gaza," the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said in a social media post. US FDA panel backs expanded use of J&J, Bristol Myers' CAR-T therapies Advisers to the U.S. health regulator voted in favor of allowing the use of Johnson & Johnson and Bristol Myers Squibb's cell therapies as earlier treatments on Friday, paving the way for their use in less severely affected patients with a type of blood cancer.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

US FDA panel votes in favor of expanded use of Bristol Myers' CAR-T therapy

Advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday voted in favor of allowing the use of Bristol Myers Squibb's cell therapy as an earlier treatment for a type of blood cancer. The panel voted 8-3 in favor that benefits of Bristol's Abecma outweighed the risks of the therapy when given as an earlier treatment.

U.N. agency in Gaza says one in three children under 2 is acutely malnourished

One in three children under age 2 in northern Gaza is now acutely malnourished and famine is looming, the main U.N. agency operating in the Palestinian enclave said on Saturday. "Children's malnutrition is spreading fast and reaching unprecedented levels in Gaza," the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) said in a social media post.

US FDA panel backs expanded use of J&J, Bristol Myers' CAR-T therapies

Advisers to the U.S. health regulator voted in favor of allowing the use of Johnson & Johnson and Bristol Myers Squibb's cell therapies as earlier treatments on Friday, paving the way for their use in less severely affected patients with a type of blood cancer. While all 11 voting members of the panel unanimously agreed the benefits of J&J and Legend Biotech's Carvykti outweighed the risks of the therapy when given as an earlier treatment, only eight voted in favor of Bristol's Abecma.

US agency urges interim payments for healthcare providers hit by UnitedHealth hack

The U.S. government said on Friday it has urged states to make interim payments to healthcare providers that were hit by the cyberattack at UnitedHealth's unit Change Healthcare. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) new guidance allows states to start making interim payments retroactively to the date when claims payment processing was disrupted due to the cybersecurity incident, the federal health agency said.