Health Headlines: Addressing Diabetes, Bird Flu, and Vaccine Innovations

This summary of current health news includes the FDA panel's rejection of Novo Nordisk's diabetes insulin, U.S. poultry import curbs from Australia due to bird flu, Eli Lilly's investment boost in response to high demand for obesity drugs, and Louisiana's classification of abortion pills as controlled substances.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

US FDA panel votes against Novo Nordisk's weekly insulin in type 1 diabetes patients

Advisers to the U.S. health regulator on Friday voted against the use of Novo Nordisk's weekly insulin in patients with type 1 diabetes due to risks of low blood sugar. The Food and Drug Administration's panel of independent experts voted 7-to-4, saying the weekly insulin icodec's benefits do not outweigh the risks

US curbs certain poultry imports from Australia's Victoria on bird flu concerns

The U.S. has imposed import curbs on certain poultry and byproducts from Victoria, Australia after determining highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, in domestic birds. The Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said on Friday the restrictions from May 22 will continue until further notice.

Lilly invests further $5.3 billion in new Indiana site as obesity drug demand soars

Eli Lilly said on Friday it has invested another $5.3 billion in its new Lebanon, Indiana manufacturing plant, more than doubling its previous investment, as it scrambles to meet soaring demand for its weight-loss and diabetes drugs. The new investment, which brings the total to $9 billion, will help boost production of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) for Lilly's powerful weight-loss drug Zepbound and diabetes treatment Mounjaro, the company said.

Raw milk containing bird flu virus infects mice in study

Feeding raw milk contaminated with bird flu to mice infected them with the virus, adding to evidence that consumption of unpasteurized milk is not safe for humans, according to a study published on Friday in the New England Journal of Medicine. Bird flu has caused serious or fatal infections globally among people in close contact with infected wild birds or poultry, and scientists have long viewed the virus as being capable of causing a global health crisis.

Emcure, HDT settle legal fight over COVID vaccine technology

Indian generic drugmaker Emcure Pharmaceuticals and U.S. vaccine developer HDT Bio have settled allegations that Emcure stole HDT trade secrets during their joint work on a COVID-19 shot, the companies said in a press release on Friday. The companies said they have signed a long-term agreement to continue collaborating on the development of mRNA-based vaccines and a license that allows Emcure to use HDT's mRNA technology, ending a lawsuit in the United States and arbitration in the United Kingdom.

Louisiana becomes first US state to classify abortion pills as controlled substances

Louisiana's governor on Friday signed a bill making his state the first in the U.S. to classify two abortion-inducing medications as controlled substances, a category that healthcare regulators typically reserve for drugs prone to abuse or addiction. The measure, thrusting Republican-led efforts to restrict abortion back to the political forefront in a presidential election year, was signed into law by Republican Governor Jeff Landry a day after the state legislature sent it to his desk.

Explainer-What are the FLiRT COVID variants and are they more contagious?

The so-called FLiRT variants of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that cause COVID-19 have been the dominant forms of the virus circulating this year globally, according to the World Health Organization The moniker FLiRT is an acronym for the locations of the mutations the variants share on the virus' spike protein. One of them, called KP.2, has become the most commonly circulating variant in the United States over the past month, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Explainer-How close is the World Health Organization to agreeing on pandemic response rules?

Health officials from the 194 member states of the World Health Organization hope next week to complete more than two years of negotiations on new rules for responding to pandemics when they gather in Geneva. Negotiations are ongoing for two complementary deals that could be formalised at the May 27-June 1 meeting: an update to existing health rules on outbreaks and a new legally-binding treaty to shore up the world's defences against future pathogens after the COVID-19 pandemic killed millions of people.

Novo Nordisk's Ozempic slows diabetic kidney disease progression in trial

Novo Nordisk's Ozempic slowed the worsening of kidney dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes and lowered the risk of kidney failure, heart problems, stroke and death, according to detailed results from a late-stage trial presented on Friday. The company in March reported that the diabetes drug known chemically as semaglutide cut the combined risk of kidney complications and cardiovascular events by 24% over the next 3.4 years in patients who received weekly 1-milligram injections compared with those who got a placebo.

Bird flu detected in tissue samples of US dairy cow sent to slaughter, USDA says

Bird flu virus particles were found in tissue samples taken from one dairy cow sent to slaughter at a U.S. meat processing plant, but none were detected in samples from 95 other cattle, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on Friday. Meat from the animals was prevented from entering the nation's food supply, USDA said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)