Health News Roundup: Japan's Takeda in regulatory talks to launch dengue vaccine in India; India court bars yoga guru's Patanjali from publishing some medicine ads and more

The unauthorized activity was detected on Feb. 21 and the company had taken immediate steps to contain it, Cencora said in a regulatory filing. Republican Alabama state senator introduces bill to protect IVF A Republican Alabama state senator on Tuesday filed a bill aimed at protecting the IVF industry after the state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos should be considered children, prompting at least three Alabama providers to halt the fertility procedure.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

India court bars yoga guru's Patanjali from publishing some medicine ads

India's top court on Tuesday barred consumer firm Patanjali Ayurved, co-founded by one of country's most popular yoga gurus, from publishing advertisements for its traditional ayurvedic medicines that claim to cure some diseases. The Supreme Court order was issued in an ongoing legal dispute with the Indian Medical Association, which has accused Patanjali of allegedly disparaging other forms of conventional medicines.

New Zealand set to scrap world-first tobacco ban

New Zealand will repeal on Tuesday a world-first law banning tobacco sales for future generations, the government said, even while researchers and campaigners warned of the risk that people could die as a result. Set to take effect from July, the toughest anti-tobacco rules in the world would have banned sales to those born after Jan. 1, 2009, cut nicotine content in smoked tobacco products and reduced the number of tobacco retailers by more than 90%.

Japan's Takeda in regulatory talks to launch dengue vaccine in India

Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical is holding talks with Indian regulators to make its dengue vaccine available in the country, the drugmaker's global head of vaccines, Gary Dubin, told Reuters on Tuesday. "We are in talks with regulators and plan to start a clinical trial very soon," said Dubin.

FDA warns of potential risk from Hologic's devices implanted in soft tissue

The U.S. health regulator on Tuesday warned patients and healthcare providers about the potential risk of serious complications arising from the use of Hologic's devices that are implanted in soft tissue. The company's devices, BioZorb Marker and BioZorb LP Marker, are implanted in soft tissue, including breast tissue, where the site needs to be marked for future procedures, such as radiation for breast cancer treatment.

China's Xian to give lottery tickets to newlyweds in bid to spur births

Authorities in China's city of Xian will spend 700,000 yuan ($97,000) on lottery tickets to give as prizes to newlyweds who present a marriage certificate, in an effort to encourage weddings at a time of fewer births. China's population fell for a second consecutive year in 2023, with new births dropping to about half those in 2016, while marriages hit a record low in 2022.With marriage rates closely tied to birth rates as unmarried mothers are often denied child-raising benefits, Xian promised a lottery ticket to any couple presenting a marriage certificate from March 1, as "a double surprise".

Cencora discloses data breach in cybersecurity incident

Cencora Inc on Tuesday disclosed a cybersecurity incident in which data, some of which may have contained personal information, was stolen from the drug distributor's information systems. The unauthorized activity was detected on Feb. 21 and the company had taken immediate steps to contain it, Cencora said in a regulatory filing.

Republican Alabama state senator introduces bill to protect IVF

A Republican Alabama state senator on Tuesday filed a bill aimed at protecting the IVF industry after the state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos should be considered children, prompting at least three Alabama providers to halt the fertility procedure. State Senator Tim Melson has said he hopes the bill to protect IVF providers from both criminal charges and civil lawsuits will pass the Senate and move to the state House by Thursday, according to local news reports. A Senate committee must first review the bill.

Florida lawmakers pause 'unborn child' bill in wake of Alabama ruling

Florida lawmakers have paused efforts to pass a bill that would have provided protections to an "unborn child," but which some worry could expose the state's in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics to lawsuits like one that happened this month in Alabama. Florida state Senator Erin Grall said in an emailed statement on Tuesday that she had requested her bill "be temporarily postponed at this time."

South Korea's fertility rate dropped to fresh record low in 2023

South Korea's fertility rate, already the world's lowest, dropped to a fresh record low in 2023, defying the billions of dollars spent by the country to try to reverse the trend as the population shrank for a fourth straight year. The average number of expected babies for a South Korean woman during her reproductive life fell to 0.72 from 0.78 in 2022, data from Statistics Korea showed on Wednesday.

US FDA to boost inspections of drug manufacturing units in India

The U.S. drug regulator is set to increase the number of inspections at Indian drug manufacturing units in 2024 amid growing concerns over the quality of drugs, a top executive for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told Reuters. The FDA conducted more than 200 inspections in 2023 in India, picking up after a lull in unannounced inspections during the pandemic.

(Disclaimer: With inputs from agencies.)