Health News Roundup: US FDA approves Pfizer's hair loss drug; Republican 2024 hopefuls back abortion limits one year after Roe v Wade overturned and more

The detailed results from a mid-stage trial, presented at a meeting of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in San Diego on Friday, showed a higher efficacy than the 14.9% weight reduction reported by the companies last month in a brief preview of the data. Republican 2024 hopefuls back abortion limits one year after Roe v Wade overturned Several Republican presidential candidates praised restrictions on abortion rights at a conference of Christian conservatives on Friday, illustrating how the issue still animates the party one year after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down nationwide constitutional protections for the procedure.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

US files first-ever charges against Chinese fentanyl manufacturers

The U.S. Justice Department on Friday filed criminal charges against four Chinese chemical manufacturing companies and eight individuals over allegations they illegally trafficked the chemicals used to make fentanyl - a highly addictive painkiller that has fueled the opioid crisis in the United States. The indictments mark the first time the U.S. has sought to prosecute any of the Chinese companies responsible for manufacturing precursor chemicals used to make the painkiller.

Experimental Lilly pill, Mounjaro both lead to 15% weight loss in clinical trials

In a mid-stage trial, the highest dose of Eli Lilly's experimental pill orforglipron led to 14.7% weight loss after 36 weeks for people who were obese or overweight, setting a marker in the race to develop effective oral obesity drugs, researchers said on Friday. Results from a different trial, also presented in San Diego at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association, showed that Lilly's injected drug Mounjaro helped people with type 2 diabetes who were also obese or overweight lose an average of 15% of their body weight, or 33 pounds (14.8 kg).

US FDA approves Pfizer's hair loss drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved Pfizer Inc's drug to treat hair loss caused by an autoimmune disease, the company said on Friday. The drug, branded as Litfulo, has been approved for people aged 12 years and older suffering from severe alopecia areata (AA), a condition where the immune system attacks hair follicles and causes hair to fall out, often in clumps.

Arizona governor issues order to protect abortion rights

Democratic Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs on Friday issued an order to protect abortion rights, wielding her executive power to curtail the effects of a restrictive abortion law signed by her Republican predecessor. Hobbs said on Twitter she ordered all abortion-related prosecutions centralized under the office of Attorney General Kristin Mays, also a Democrat and abortion rights advocate, stripping that authority from county prosecutors, many of them Republicans.

Biden to sign executive order expanding access to contraception

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday will sign an executive order designed to protect and expand access to contraception, after a Supreme Court ruling last year overturning the constitutional right to abortion raised fears that birth control could also face restrictions. Biden senior adviser Jen Klein told reporters that the order will increase ways for women to access contraception and lower out-of-pocket costs.

Zealand, Boehringer tout higher weight-loss drug efficacy in update

Zealand Pharma and Boehringer Ingelheim said their experimental obesity treatment was shown to reduce body weight by close to 19% in a mid-stage trial when looking at participants who had reached the intended dosage level. The detailed results from a mid-stage trial, presented at a meeting of the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in San Diego on Friday, showed a higher efficacy than the 14.9% weight reduction reported by the companies last month in a brief preview of the data.

Republican 2024 hopefuls back abortion limits one year after Roe v Wade overturned

Several Republican presidential candidates praised restrictions on abortion rights at a conference of Christian conservatives on Friday, illustrating how the issue still animates the party one year after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down nationwide constitutional protections for the procedure. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who has emerged as one of the party's most vocal and high-profile opponents of abortion rights, called on all candidates to support a federal ban on abortions after 15 weeks of gestation if elected.

Pfizer/BioNTech initiate application with EU regulator for updated COVID vaccine

Pfizer and partner BioNTech said on Friday they have initiated an application to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for authorization of updated COVID-19 vaccine targeting Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5. Earlier in June, Europe's medicine regulators backed the World Health Organization's recommendation to update the antigen composition of COVID shots to target one of the currently dominant XBB variants ahead of the upcoming autumn vaccination campaign.

GSK soothes investors by settling first Zantac cancer lawsuit due for US trial

GSK agreed to settle a U.S. lawsuit alleging its discontinued heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer, the British drugmaker said on Friday, preventing the first such case from going to trial next month. The company said it had reached a confidential deal with California resident James Goetz who alleged he developed bladder cancer from taking the drug. The trial was due to start on July 24, and would have been the first test of how Zantac cancer claims would fare before a jury.

No direct evidence COVID started in Wuhan lab - US intelligence report

U.S. intelligence agencies found no direct evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic stemmed from an incident at China's Wuhan Institute of Virology, a report declassified on Friday said. The four-page report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) said the U.S. intelligence community still could not rule out the possibility that the virus came from a laboratory, however, and had not been able to discover the origins of the pandemic.

(With inputs from agencies.)