Health News Roundup: Merck, Eisai to discontinue late-stage study for skin cancer; Explainer-Texas judge suspends approval of abortion pill. What happens next? and more

Doctors previously had suspected this was possible, but until now, there was no direct evidence of COVID-19 in a mother's placenta or an infant's brain, the team told reporters at a news briefing. US judge suspends approval of mifepristone in latest abortion setback A U.S. judge in Texas on Friday suspended the two-decade-old approval of the abortion pill mifepristone while a legal challenge proceeds, dealing another setback to abortion rights in the United States.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Merck, Eisai to discontinue late-stage study for skin cancer

Merck & Co Inc and Eisai Co Ltd said on Friday they were discontinuing a late-stage study of Keytruda plus Lenvima for the treatment of adults with unresectable or metastatic melanoma, as the trial did not show improvement in overall survival. The decision to discontinue the trial was based on the recommendation of an independent data monitoring committee after an interim analysis, the companies said.

Explainer-Texas judge suspends approval of abortion pill. What happens next?

U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas on Friday suspended approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, which will essentially make sales of the pill illegal in the U.S., while a legal challenge proceeds. The legal battle over medication abortion is only beginning and could wend its way through multiple levels of appeals courts over a period of months or years before it is resolved. Here is what you need to know about the case as it further unfolds:

COVID caused brain damage in 2 infants infected during pregnancy -US study

Researchers at the University of Miami reported on Thursday what they believe are the first two confirmed cases in which the SARS-CoV-2 virus crossed a mother's placenta and caused brain damage in the infants they were carrying. Doctors previously had suspected this was possible, but until now, there was no direct evidence of COVID-19 in a mother's placenta or an infant's brain, the team told reporters at a news briefing.

US judge suspends approval of mifepristone in latest abortion setback

A U.S. judge in Texas on Friday suspended the two-decade-old approval of the abortion pill mifepristone while a legal challenge proceeds, dealing another setback to abortion rights in the United States. Adding to the volatile legal landscape around abortion, a federal judge in Washington state on Friday issued a seemingly conflicting injunction that prevented federal regulators from altering access to the same abortion drug.

China CDC urges WHO to take 'scientific, fair' position on COVID origins

The head of China's Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Saturday urged the World Health Organization (WHO) to return to a "scientific, fair" position in tracing the origin of COVID-19. At a news conference, Shen Hongbing warned the WHO against politicising the source of the virus, which was first detected in central China in late 2019, or becoming a tool of another country.

India asks states to ramp up testing as COVID-19 cases climb

India's federal government asked states to identify emergency hotspots and ramp up-testing for COVID-19, after the country recorded its highest daily case count since September, a Reuters tally showed on Friday. There were 6,050 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the federal health ministry said on Friday, continuing a sharp upward trend since a lull last year.

US FDA identifies recall of Philips' respiratory devices as most serious

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday classified the recall of Philips' respiratory machines as its most serious type, as their use could cause serious injuries or death. The Dutch medical devices maker's unit Philips Respironics recalled 1,088 devices in the U.S. on Feb. 10.

JNJ, AbbVie plan to pull US accelerated approvals for some blood cancer treatments

AbbVie Inc and partner Johnson & Johnson intend to voluntarily withdraw the accelerated approvals of their Imbruvica drug in the U.S. for patients with certain types of blood cancer, the companies said on Thursday. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advised that the primary outcomes from late-stage studies of the drug for the indications were considered insufficient to support conversion to full approval, J&J said.

Births in Italy hit record low in 2022, population shrinks further

Births in Italy dropped to a new historic low below 400,000 in 2022, national statistics bureau ISTAT said on Friday, as the population continued to shrink. Italy's dearth of babies is considered a national emergency, and fixing the problem was a prominent policy pledge by Giorgia Meloni ahead of last year's election which saw her become the country's first woman prime minister.

(With inputs from agencies.)