Health News Roundup: Pfizer posts surprise profit as US returns fewer courses of COVID pill; HCA Healthcare forecasts 2024 profit above Street estimates and more

The organization said fake versions of the drugs, which belong to a class called GLP-1 agonists, are most often sold and distributed through unregulated outlets, including social media platforms, and carry serious health risks. Factbox-Launches and prices of Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drug Wegovy Novo Nordisk has launched its wildly popular weight-loss drug Wegovy in eight countries since 2021 at prices ranging from $200 to almost $2,000 a month as Eli Lilly starts selling its rival drug in Europe and the United States.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Pfizer posts surprise profit as US returns fewer courses of COVID pill

Pfizer reported a surprise quarterly profit on Tuesday, helped by its cost-cutting measures and as the U.S. government returned fewer courses of COVID treatment Paxlovid than it had expected. The U.S. drugmaker recorded a $3.5 billion revenue reversal related to the treatment during the period for the return of about 6.5 million courses.

HCA Healthcare forecasts 2024 profit above Street estimates

HCA Healthcare on Tuesday forecast 2024 profit above Wall Street estimates as the largest U.S. for-profit hospital operator anticipated strong demand for medical procedures, sending its shares up 6% in premarket trading. The hospital operator also posted better-than-expected earnings for the fourth quarter and authorized an additional share repurchase program for up to $6 billion.

Vertex non-opioid pain drug meets main goal in late-stage trials

Vertex Pharmaceuticals said on Tuesday its experimental non-opioid drug for treating post-surgical pain met the main goal in late stage trials but was not any more effective than some commonly used painkillers. When compared with a placebo, the drug was more effective in reducing the intensity of pain, measured by patients' self-reported rating of their discomfort, after 48 hours in the two late-stage studies.

Rise in reports of fake weight-loss drugs linked to shortage of real thing, WHO says

The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday warned that global shortages last year of popular diabetes medicines that are also used for weight loss, such as Novo Nordisk's Ozempic, had been linked to rising reports of suspected counterfeits. The organization said fake versions of the drugs, which belong to a class called GLP-1 agonists, are most often sold and distributed through unregulated outlets, including social media platforms, and carry serious health risks.

Factbox-Launches and prices of Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drug Wegovy

Novo Nordisk has launched its wildly popular weight-loss drug Wegovy in eight countries since 2021 at prices ranging from $200 to almost $2,000 a month as Eli Lilly starts selling its rival drug in Europe and the United States. The Danish drugmaker is working to convince European governments and insurers to reimburse the drug, seeking to position it as more than a lifestyle drug.

Bayer faces Australian test with judge to decide whether weedkiller caused cancer

An Australian court on Tuesday heard closing arguments in a class action lawsuit alleging that a weedkiller produced by Bayer caused cancer, the first such case in Australia to reach this stage. Bayer has already paid billions of dollars to settle claims that exposure to its glyphosate herbicide, Roundup, damaged health, in most cases by causing non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a blood cancer.

German health ministry: no plans for insurance coverage of weight-loss drugs

Germany's health ministry has no plans to change a law that prevents the health insurance system from paying for weight-loss drugs, it said on Tuesday, dismissing remarks by an Eli Lilly executive of talks that may lead to a relaxing of the ban. "There are currently no plans to change the policy on coverage of pharmaceuticals for weight loss," a ministry spokesperson said in a statement, responding to a request from Reuters.

Philips' US sales of sleep apnea devices face years-long halt after FDA deal

Dutch health technology company Philips will not sell new devices to treat sleep apnea in the U.S. in the coming years as it works to comply with a settlement with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on Monday. The agreement followed the recall of millions of breathing devices and ventilators used to treat sleep apnea in 2021 because of concerns that foam used to reduce noise from the devices could degrade and become toxic, carrying potential cancer risks.

2seventy bio to sell experimental cell therapies to Regeneron

Cancer treatment maker 2seventy bio will sell all its experimental cell therapies to Regeneron Pharmaceuticals for an upfront payment of $5 million and focus on its sole approved product Abecma, the two companies said on Tuesday. 2seventy bio's shares rose more than 10% in premarket trade.

Elon Musk's Neuralink implants brain chip in first human

The first human patient has received an implant from brain-chip startup Neuralink on Sunday and is recovering well, the company's billionaire founder Elon Musk said. "Initial results show promising neuron spike detection," Musk said in a post on the social media platform X on Monday.