Health News Roundup: Pfizer shares sink after it resets 2024 COVID expectations; Eisai to launch Alzheimer's drug Leqembi in Japan on Dec 20 and more

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Factbox-How Pfizer is fortifying for growth beyond COVID products

Pfizer has turned to multi-billion deals, an internal restructuring and a massive cost-cutting program as the U.S. drugmaker battles a steep fall in demand for its COVID-19 products. The company on Wednesday forecast revenue from its COVID-19 vaccine and treatment to be $8 billion in 2024, a far cry from the $57 billion in 2022.

US employers hire virtual providers as weight-loss drug gatekeepers

U.S. employers facing surging costs from paying for Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and similar obesity drugs are hiring virtual healthcare providers like Teladoc to implement weight-loss management programs, a dozen consultants, pharmacy benefit managers, analysts, and providers told Reuters. These programs may require diet and exercise before granting access to the medicines, and in some cases will become employees' sole covered option for medications like Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s rival therapy Zepbound, which have list prices of more than $1,000 a month.

Japan's health ministry reports country's first death from mpox

Japan's health ministry on Wednesday reported the country's first fatality from mpox. The patient was a man in his 30s with a prior infection with HIV and no travel history, the ministry said in a statement.

Vertex's non-opioid drug reduces nerve pain in trial, shares hit record high

Vertex Pharmaceuticals' non-opioid painkiller significantly decreased pain in patients with diabetes suffering from chronic nerve pain in a mid-stage trial, fueling efforts to develop a treatment without the potential risk of addiction. Shares jumped 9.2% to hit an all-time high on Wednesday as the drug is part of the company's attempts to expand beyond treatments for cystic fibrosis (CF), a genetic condition that affects the lungs and often results in early death.

US Supreme Court to decide access to abortion pill in major case

The U.S. Supreme Court, which in 2022 ended its recognition of a constitutional right to abortion, on Wednesday agreed to hear a bid by President Joe Biden's administration to preserve broad access to the abortion pill, setting up another major ruling on reproductive rights set to come in a presidential election year. The justices took up the administration's appeal of an August decision by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that would curb how the pill, called mifepristone, is delivered and distributed, barring telemedicine prescriptions and shipments by mail of the drug. The high court also agreed to hear an appeal by the drug's manufacturer, Danco Laboratories.

Organic tick repellents differ widely in efficacy, study shows

Increasingly popular botanical oils for repelling and killing ticks are not always as effective as regulated chemical products, according to a report published on Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Some of these unregulated products have only minimal impact on ticks, a review of existing research found.

What does the Texas Supreme Court ruling on emergency abortions mean for patients?

Monday's ruling from the Texas Supreme Court denying a woman's request for an emergency abortion shines a spotlight on the medical exceptions contained in many U.S. states' abortion bans. Here are some of the most important facts about the case, and what it could mean: WHAT IS TEXAS' MEDICAL EXCEPTION?

Sigma Healthcare posts record jump on $5.8 billion merger with Chemist Warehouse

Shares in Australia's Sigma Healthcare surged more than 76% on Wednesday to post a record intraday jump, after the company said on Monday it would merge with Chemist Warehouse Group to form an A$8.8 billion ($5.77 billion) entity. Shares of the pharmaceutical firm jumped as much as 76.5% to A$1.350 in early trade, hitting their highest level since Oct. 26, 2016. As at 2342 GMT, shares were trading 38.6% higher at A$1.025.

Eisai to launch Alzheimer's drug Leqembi in Japan on Dec 20

Eisai said on Wednesday its Alzheimer's drug Leqembi will launch in Japan on Dec. 20 following its inclusion on the National Health Insurance price list. Intravenous treatment of the drug, co-developed with U.S. partner Biogen, will cost about 2.98 million yen ($20,438) per patient per year, based on a Japanese health ministry panel ruling the same day.

Pfizer shares sink after it resets 2024 COVID expectations

Pfizer on Wednesday forecast 2024 sales that could be as much as $5 billion below Wall Street expectations, a move top executives said provided a more reliable view of its COVID-19 business than it had this year, driving shares down to a 10-year low. Revenue from Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine and treatment, which peaked at $57 billion in 2022, are now expected to be $8 billion in 2024, a further drop from the $13 billion analysts' forecast and Pfizer's own lowered view of $12.5 billion for this year.

(With inputs from agencies.)