Health News Roundup: US FDA panel to discuss Eli Lilly Alzheimer's drug on June 10; Tylenol maker Kenvue to cut 4% jobs, beats quarterly profit estimates and more

The lawsuit by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and the Catholic Medical Association (CMA), filed in federal court in Tampa, takes aim at a new rule published by the U.S. Department of Health and Services (HHS) on Monday that would ban discrimination in healthcare on the basis of gender identity. US FDA panel to discuss first psychedelic-assisted PTSD treatment next month The U.S. FDA's panel of independent advisers will on June 4 deliberate whether they should recommend approval for the first MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder, Lykos Therapeutics said on Monday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

US FDA panel to discuss Eli Lilly Alzheimer's drug on June 10

Eli Lilly said on Tuesday a panel of independent U.S. FDA advisers will discuss its experimental Alzheimer's disease drug, donanemab, on June 10. Donanemab has faced two separate regulatory delays in the United States, while a similar therapy by Eisai and partner Biogen, called Leqembi, received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval last year.

Tylenol maker Kenvue to cut 4% jobs, beats quarterly profit estimates

Kenvue will cut 4% of its global workforce amid investments to grow its key brands, the Tylenol and Band-Aid maker said on Tuesday, as it topped beat Wall Street estimates for first-quarter profit. Since its spinoff from Johnson & Johnson last year, Kenvue has focused on its 15 priority brands and in February announced it would increase its advertising spending this year.

Florida sues Biden administration over new transgender healthcare rule

Florida's top prosecutor and a Catholic medical group on Tuesday sued the Biden administration in an effort to block a rule that they say will force doctors to provide gender transition care against their judgment or face heavy penalties. The lawsuit by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and the Catholic Medical Association (CMA), filed in federal court in Tampa, takes aim at a new rule published by the U.S. Department of Health and Services (HHS) on Monday that would ban discrimination in healthcare on the basis of gender identity.

US FDA panel to discuss first psychedelic-assisted PTSD treatment next month

The U.S. FDA's panel of independent advisers will on June 4 deliberate whether they should recommend approval for the first MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder, Lykos Therapeutics said on Monday. This would be the first FDA panel of outside experts to review a potential new PTSD treatment in 25 years.

AstraZeneca to withdraw Covid vaccine worldwide, The Telegraph reports

Anglo-Swedish drugmaker AstraZeneca is withdrawing its Covid vaccine worldwide, The Telegraph reported on Tuesday. The application to withdraw the vaccine was made on March 5 and came into effect on Tuesday, the report added.

Fresenius Medical beats earnings expectations, keeps outlook; shares sink

Fresenius Medical Care beat first-quarter operating earnings expectations on Tuesday amid higher pricing and cost-cut savings, but the German company still maintained its profit outlook for 2024, sending its shares down in early trading. Adjusted operating income in the quarter surged 23% to 416 million euros ($448 million), beating the average analyst estimate of 386 million euros posted on the website of the world's biggest dialysis provider.

China lifts risk alert warning on bird flu in Serbia

China lifted the risk alert warning on bird flu in Serbia, the General Administration of Customs announced on Tuesday. "The risk alert on highly pathogenic avian influenza in Serbia will be lifted," according to a statement.

Idaho seeks to revive 'abortion trafficking' law in US appeals court

A lawyer for the state of Idaho on Tuesday urged a federal appeals court to revive a 2023 state law making it a crime to help a minor cross state lines for an abortion without her parent's consent, which a lower court judge had blocked in November. "The law is narrow, and one would think, unobjectionable," Idaho Deputy Solicitor General Joshua Turner told the three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle.

Bankrupt Steward Health puts its hospitals up for sale, discloses $9 billion in debt

Bankrupt Steward Health Care has put all of its 31 U.S. hospitals up for sale, hoping to finalize transactions by the end of the summer to address its $9 billion in total liabilities, its attorneys said at a Tuesday court hearing in Houston. Steward, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, hopes to keep all of its hospitals open over the long term, Steward attorney Ray Schrock told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Chris Lopez, who is overseeing the Chapter 11 proceedings.

People with two copies of a risk gene have genetic form of Alzheimer's, scientists say

People who carry two copies of the APOE4 gene are virtually guaranteed to develop Alzheimer's and face symptoms at an earlier age, researchers reported on Monday in a study that could redefine such carriers as having a new genetic form of the mind-wasting disease. The reclassification could change Alzheimer's research, diagnosis and approaches to treatment, according to the researchers, whose study was published in the journal Nature Medicine.

(With inputs from agencies.)