Health News Roundup: U.S. FDA puts partial hold on Blueprint Medicines' cancer drug trial; U.S. states, others weigh in on court battle over abortion pill and more

Anti-abortion groups seeking a nationwide ban on the pill sued the Biden administration in November in Amarillo, where a local order assigns 95% of federal civil cases to the lone U.S. district judge there, Matthew Kacsmaryk, an appointee of former Republican President Donald Trump. Spain detects a case of atypical mad cow disease, WOAH says Spain has detected atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a dead cow in the northwestern region of Galicia, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Friday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Martin Shkreli: I'm not in contempt over drug industry ban

Martin Shkreli on Friday urged a U.S. judge not to hold him in civil contempt for failing to provide federal and state regulators with information to determine whether he is violating a lifetime ban from working in the pharmaceutical industry. In a filing in Manhattan federal court, Shkreli said he has complied with the February 2022 ban "as extensively as possible and in good faith," and has provided the materials sought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and seven states.

Office cake culture lives on in Britain despite health warning

When Katie Mulligan baked a beetroot cake for her colleagues at a London advertising agency, she was focused on getting the recipe right rather than whether it was acceptable to bring treats into the office. But office cake culture has recently been challenged by the head of Britain's food regulator, Susan Jebb, who grabbed headlines last month by comparing it to passive smoking.

Stigma and poverty stymie cancer treatment as rates rise in Kenya

Like many people in Kenya, Sperenza Maina went into denial when she was first diagnosed with breast cancer, hiding it from her family for months and delaying important treatment. But the most painful part of the librarian's cancer journey has been the crippling financial burden, with each round of chemotherapy costing 35,000 Kenyan shillings ($280.11), more than a month and a half of an average salary in Kenya.

Equatorial Guinea quarantines 200 after unknown hemorrhagic fever deaths

Equatorial Guinea has quarantined more than 200 people and restricted movement after an unknown illness causing hemorrhagic fever killed at least eight people, Health Minister Mitoha Ondo'o Ayekaba said on Friday as the government races to test samples. The outbreak was reported on Feb. 7, and from preliminary investigations, the deaths were linked to people who all took part in a funeral ceremony, Ayekaba said, adding the government had sent samples to neighbouring Gabon and will send others to Dakar in Senegal for further testing.

U.S. FDA puts partial hold on Blueprint Medicines' cancer drug trial

Blueprint Medicines Corp said on Friday the U.S. drug regulator had put on partial hold an early-stage trial testing its experimental cancer drug due to safety concerns, sending its shares down nearly 6%. Some patients faced episodes of light sensitivity and blurred vision, the drug developer said.

U.S. states, others weigh in on court battle over abortion pill

Dozens of U.S. state attorneys general on Friday weighed in on a lawsuit seeking a court order blocking access nationwide to a drug used in medication abortion, with Republicans in support of the lawsuit and Democrats warning of "devastating consequences" if it succeeds. In the lawsuit, filed last year in Amarillo, Texas federal court, anti-abortion groups including the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine claim the U.S. Food and Drug Administration used an improper process to approve the drug mifepristone in 2000, and did not adequately consider its safety.

Analysis-Abortion pill lawsuit faces Texas judge who often rules for conservatives

A challenge to the U.S. government's approval of a pill used for abortions is one of the latest high-profile lawsuits to be filed by conservative advocates in a Texas court that essentially guarantees them a sympathetic judge, a one-time Christian activist. Anti-abortion groups seeking a nationwide ban on the pill sued the Biden administration in November in Amarillo, where a local order assigns 95% of federal civil cases to the lone U.S. district judge there, Matthew Kacsmaryk, an appointee of former Republican President Donald Trump.

Spain detects a case of atypical mad cow disease, WOAH says

Spain has detected atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a dead cow in the northwestern region of Galicia, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) said on Friday. The disease, commonly called mad cow disease, was found after a 22-year-old cow was euthanised due to signs of illness not related to BSE, Paris-based WOAH said, citing information from the Spanish authorities.

How recent lawsuits could affect access to abortion pills

Medication abortion has been in the spotlight since the U.S. Supreme Court last June reversed its landmark 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade, which had guaranteed abortion rights nationwide. A lawsuit has been filed to get the drug used in the procedure pulled from the market, while two others seek to expand access to it. Below is a guide to what is at stake. WHAT IS MEDICATION ABORTION?

Colombia's aging floral workforce threatens Valentine's potential

Colombia's flower industry is struggling to contend with an aging workforce as youth shun the industry in favor of jobs elsewhere, stifling productivity, industry sources said. Flower producers need an extra 20,000 workers at busy times of the year, such as St. Valentine's Day, Augusto Solano, president of the flower producers association, told Reuters.

(With inputs from agencies.)