Health News Summary: Drug firms avert landmark opioid trial as talks on $48-billion settlement set to resume

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. Drug firms avert landmark opioid trial as talks on $48-billion settlement set to resume

Four large drug companies could resume talks on Tuesday to try to reach a $48 billion settlement of all opioid litigation against them, after agreeing with two Ohio counties to a $260 million deal to avert the first federal trial over their role in the U.S. opioid epidemic. Drug distributors AmerisourceBergen Corp, Cardinal Health Inc and McKesson Corp and drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd agreed to the deal that removed the immediate threat of a trial that was to begin on Monday in Cleveland. Canadian election clears path for a universal drug plan

Canada's Liberal government is more likely to pass a universal prescription drug plan after losing its majority in Monday's election, setting the stage for what would be the biggest shakeup of the country's public healthcare system since it was created in the 1960s. The Liberals won the most seats in the election but fell short of a majority, which means Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will need the support of rivals like the left-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) to govern. Both the Liberals and NDP have promised a new national drug plan. South Korea warns of 'serious risk' from vaping, considers sales ban

South Korea on Wednesday advised people to stop using liquid e-cigarettes due to growing health concerns and vowed to speed up an investigation into whether to ban sales, a move likely to hit major producers such as Juul and local tobacco company KT&G. While long-term health impacts from vaping remain largely unknown, e-cigarettes were viewed as a healthier alternative that could help users quit smoking when they were first launched a few years ago. Biogen, Eisai revive plans for Alzheimer's drug, surprising market

Biogen Inc revived plans on Tuesday to seek U.S. approval for Alzheimer's treatment aducanumab, surprising investors and saying data from more patients in two discontinued studies showed the drug reduced the decline of patients. The drugmaker's shares soared 27% in New York trading, recouping almost all of the $18 billion it lost when it said in March it was abandoning the two studies. Shares in Eisai Co, Biogen's Japanese partner in the drug, were quoted up 18% to the daily limit high of 6,534 yen in Tokyo trading. Climate change hampers progress on fighting epidemics: Global Fund

Climate change is making it harder to eradicate deadly epidemics, with rising temperatures helping mosquitoes spread malaria in higher places in Africa, the head of a global health fund said on Tuesday. Other potential deadly consequences of climate change include more intense cyclones which leave an increased risk of infections in their wake, said Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Disease fighters to mark partial victory in polio eradication battle

Global health officials will on Thursday announce a partial victory in the decades-long fight to end polio, with a second of three strains of the crippling virus certified as eradicated worldwide. The ending of wild polio virus type 3 - also known as WPV3 - will be the third human disease-causing pathogen to be eradicated in history, after smallpox was declared wiped out in 1980 and wild polio virus type 2 (WPV2) in 2015. That last toke for the road could be a downer with pot breathalyzers coming

One toke for the road could end up being a total bummer for drivers who smoke pot, with several companies in the United States preparing to market cannabis breathalyzers as legalized marijuana spreads across the country. Law enforcement agencies will require breathalyzers to detect marijuana as they are "faced with the necessity of stopping more and more motor vehicles being operated under the influence of THC," said Brett Meade, a retired police chief and a senior program manager for Washington-based non-profit group the Police Foundation. Kenya launches first breast milk bank to help newborns

The five mothers sat in a bright blue room in Kenya's largest maternity hospital waiting to pump breast milk - but not for their own newborns. At Kenya's first breast milk bank, the women were waiting to help infants whose mothers couldn't feed them by donating some of their own milk. More than 100 elephants die in Botswana in suspected anthrax outbreak

More than 100 elephants have died in Botswana in the past two months partly because of a suspected anthrax outbreak, the government said on Tuesday. "Preliminary investigations suggest the elephants are dying from anthrax whilst some died from drought effects," a Department of Wildlife and National Parks statement said. Johnson & Johnson CEO testified Baby Powder was safe 13 days before FDA bombshell

Facing off against a plaintiff’s lawyer for the first time about Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Powder, the company’s Chief Executive Alex Gorsky earlier this month insisted that the company’s iconic brand was safe. “We unequivocally believe that our talc and our baby powder does not contain asbestos,” Gorsky testified in an Oct. 3 deposition in a case involving a retired Indiana college professor who alleges his cancer was caused by the Baby Powder he used for decades. The deposition has not been previously reported.

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