Health News Roundup: Schumer asks FDA to investigate Logan Paul's PRIME energy drink; Court reinstates Tennessee ban on care for transgender youth and more

The panel of three judges voted 2-1 to reverse a lower court's decision that had blocked Tennessee from enforcing the law while it was being challenged. EU investigates Ozempic, weight-loss drug Saxenda after suicidal thoughts reported The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is investigating Novo Nordisk's diabetes drug Ozempic and weight-loss treatment Saxenda after Iceland's health regulator flagged three cases of patients thinking about suicide or self-harm.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Hunger haunts Ethiopia's Tigray region after years of war

Curled up on a hospital bed in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region, an emaciated little girl struggles to breathe, as her father softly strokes her gaunt face and her mother sits crying. Tsige Shishay, whose pink sweater reads "beautiful" on the front, is 10 years old but weighs just 10 kg (22 lb). Her doctor says she is dying, a new victim of an acute food shortage in a region blighted by two years of war and struggling with drought.

Cigna to add three Humira biosimilars to drug reimbursement list

Cigna Group's Express Scripts pharmacy benefits unit will add three biosimilar versions of AbbVie's blockbuster arthritis treatment Humira to its list of preferred drugs, the company said on Monday. The biosimilars include Hyrimoz and an unbranded version of Humira from Swiss drugmaker Novartis' Sandoz generics division, as well as German drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim's Cyltezo.

Analysis-Europe faces long wait for weight-loss drugs as governments eye costs

Novo Nordisk will start selling its hugely popular obesity drug Wegovy in Germany this month, its third European market, but only people who pay from their own pocket or have certain private health insurance plans will be able to get it. A decades-old German law bans public health insurance schemes from paying for weight-loss drugs, categorising them alongside pills for impotency or baldness as a lifestyle choice rather than a health necessity.

Court reinstates Tennessee ban on care for transgender youth

A Tennessee law prohibiting doctors from providing medical care such as puberty-blockers and gender affirming surgery for transgender minors can go into effect immediately, a U.S. appeals court ruled Saturday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said advocacy groups that had challenged Tennessee's law could not show they were likely to prevail on their claims it violated the U.S. Constitution. The panel of three judges voted 2-1 to reverse a lower court's decision that had blocked Tennessee from enforcing the law while it was being challenged.

EU investigates Ozempic, weight-loss drug Saxenda after suicidal thoughts reported

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is investigating Novo Nordisk's diabetes drug Ozempic and weight-loss treatment Saxenda after Iceland's health regulator flagged three cases of patients thinking about suicide or self-harm. Shares of the Danish drugmaker fell 1% on Monday following the news.

Schumer asks FDA to investigate Logan Paul's PRIME energy drink

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Sunday called on regulators to investigate a popular influencer-created energy drink with nearly twice the caffeine of a Red Bull, saying it was being marketed to children. Schumer said Prime, a beverage brand started last year by YouTube stars Logan Paul and KSI, should be investigated by the Food and Drug Administration due to the high caffeine content of its Prime Energy drink.

UK health regulator approves GSK's vaccine for common respiratory virus RSV

Britain's health regulator approved GSK's vaccine for the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which causes thousands of hospitalisations and deaths annually, the drugmaker said on Monday. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) authorised GSK's shot, called Arexvy, for active immunisation to prevent lower respiratory tract disease caused by RSV in adults 60 years and older, the company said.

(With inputs from agencies.)