Health News Roundup: UK first to approve Omicron COVID shot with Moderna nod; Bill Gates, South Korea expand global health partnership and more

The UK medicines regulator (MHRA) gave the so-called bivalent vaccine made by U.S. drug company Moderna conditional approval as a booster for adults on Monday. U.S. FDA gets over 48,000 reports of faulty Philips respiratory devices in May-July The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it had received more than 48,000 reports of faulty Dutch medical equipment maker Philips' ventilators and respiratory devices between May and July, which included 44 deaths.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Bill Gates, South Korea expand global health partnership

South Korea agreed on Tuesday to expand its global health partnership with the foundation set up by Microsoft Corp co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates. The deal came after Gates arrived in South Korea late on Monday, calling for Seoul to play a bigger role in global health and to increase aid.

Plaintiff in first Zantac lawsuit set for trial drops case

The plaintiff in the first lawsuit over the heartburn drug Zantac to go to trial has agreed to drop his case for now, according to his attorney and GlaxoSmithKline Plc, one of the drug companies named in the case. The announcement on Tuesday came days after shares of GSK, Sanofi SA, Pfizer Inc and Haleon Plc were hit by investor concerns about thousands of lawsuits linking the drug, which U.S. regulators pulled from the market in 2020, to cancer.

UK first to approve Omicron COVID shot with Moderna nod

Britain, the first country to approve a coronavirus vaccine in late 2020, has now also given the first green light to a variant-adapted shot that targets both the original and Omicron version of the virus. The UK medicines regulator (MHRA) gave the so-called bivalent vaccine made by U.S. drug company Moderna conditional approval as a booster for adults on Monday.

U.S. FDA gets over 48,000 reports of faulty Philips respiratory devices in May-July

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it had received more than 48,000 reports of faulty Dutch medical equipment maker Philips' ventilators and respiratory devices between May and July, which included 44 deaths. This was more than twice the number of reports it had received in over a year until April, the agency said on Tuesday.

Zimbabwe measles outbreak blamed on sect gatherings kills 157 children

A measles outbreak in Zimbabwe has killed 157 children with the death toll nearly doubling in just under a week, the information minister said on Tuesday. The government last week blamed apostolic church sects for the surge in infections, saying measles was largely prevalent among those who had not received vaccinations.

Newly launched U.S. drugs head toward record-high prices in 2022

Drugmakers are launching new medicines at record-high prices this year, a Reuters analysis has found, highlighting their pricing power even as Congress moves to cut the $500 billion-plus annual bill for prescription drugs in the United States. At the same time, some pharmaceutical manufacturers are disclosing less information about the pricing of those treatments, which have come under greater scrutiny in recent years, Reuters found. "In the U.S. we allow drug manufacturers to freely set prices for all brand-name drugs," Dr. Aaron Kesselheim, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told Reuters.

Novavax seeks U.S. authorization for COVID vaccine booster

Novavax Inc said on Monday it had filed for U.S. authorization for use of its COVID-19 vaccine as a booster dose in people who had either received its shots or a different vaccine. The application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration comes in the face of a slow rollout in the United States, where the Novavax vaccine was authorized in July, despite expectations that it would convince vaccine skeptics to get inoculated.

China to discourage abortions to boost low birth rate

China will discourage abortions and take steps to make fertility treatment more accessible as part of efforts to boost one of the world's lowest birth rates, its National Health Authority said on Tuesday. Support measures from taxation and insurance to education and housing would be improved and implemented, with local governments encouraged to boost infant care services and family friendly workplaces, according to guidelines published on the authority's website.

U.S. approves over-the-counter hearing aids for sale

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Tuesday adopted a final rule on Tuesday to create a new category of over-the-counter hearing aids that can be sold directly to millions of Americans. The FDA said the rules, which take effect in mid-October, should cut the costs of hearing aids for people with perceived mild to moderate hearing impairment. The aids will be available directly from stores or online without a medical exam, prescription or fitting adjustment by an audiologist.

WHO vows nothing 'ridiculous' as public submits ideas to rename monkeypox

Poxy McPoxface, TRUMP-22 or Mpox: these some of the ideas sent in by the public to the World Health Organization as it seeks a new name for monkeypox. Often disease names are chosen behind closed doors by a technical committee, but the WHO has this time decided to open up the process to the public. After a slow start, dozens of submissions have now been made from a range of contributors including academics, doctors, and a gay community activist.

(With inputs from agencies.)