Breakthroughs and Legal Battles: A Glimpse into 2023's Health Landscape

From Cigna's medical use trends to the Johnson & Johnson talc settlement, recent health news covers various major developments. These include the uncovering of space travel’s effects on health, U.S. judge overturning Florida's gender-affirming healthcare ban, a human bird flu case in India, and new drug approvals by the FDA.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Cigna's medical use trends in line with projections for 2023, 2024 -GS conference

Health insurer Cigna's medical use trends across its portfolio were in line with its expectations for 2023 and 2024, CFO Brian Evanko said on Tuesday, citing the company's lack of Medicaid management. The company has also reaffirmed its adjusted annual profit forecast made in May, Evanko said at the Goldman Sachs Global Healthcare Conference. The majority of Cigna's business is from managing employer-based healthcare plans.

Data from all-civilian crew details health effects of space travel

When pediatric cancer survivor Hayley Arceneaux and a trio of crewmates spent three days in space in 2021 as part of SpaceX's Inspiration4 mission, they made history not only as the first all-civilian team to orbit Earth. They also provided the most in-depth data on record regarding the effects of space travel on the human body. New research based on this data details changes in the brain, heart, muscles, kidneys and skin, immune regulation and stress levels and a breakdown in the activity of subcellular structures called mitochondria amid the microgravity environment, increased radiation and other factors in space.

US judge strikes down Florida ban on gender-affirming healthcare

A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that parts of Florida's ban of puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender children and restrictions on gender-affirming healthcare for adults are unconstitutional and ordered that it not be enforced.

Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed the restrictions into law in 2023, banning people under the age of 18 from receiving puberty blockers or hormone therapy to treat gender dysphoria, though the law allowed children who had begun receiving gender-affirming care before May 17, 2023, to continue to do so with new restrictions.

Johnson & Johnson reaches $700 million talc settlement with US states

Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $700 million to settle an investigation by 42 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. into its marketing of baby powder and other talc-based products blamed for allegedly causing cancer. The settlement resolves charges that Johnson & Johnson misled consumers into believing its talc products, which it sold for more than a century before stopping, were safe.

WHO confirms human case of bird flu in India

The World Health Organization on Tuesday said a case of human infection with bird flu caused by the H9N2 virus was detected in a four-year-old child in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. The patient was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) of a local hospital due to persistent severe respiratory issues, high fever and abdominal cramps in February, and was discharged three months later after diagnosis and treatment, the WHO said.

Sage Therapeutics says rare disease drug found to be safe in mid-stage study

Sage Therapeutics said on Tuesday a part of a mid-stage study showed its experimental drug was safe and had some effect in patients with a rare, genetic neurological condition called Huntington's disease. The company, however, said the study in Huntington's disease patients was not designed to show a statistically significant difference between the drug dalzanemdor and placebo.

US FDA grants accelerated approval to Genfit and Ipsen's liver disease drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted accelerated approval to French drugmakers Ipsen and Genfit's drug for a chronic inflammatory liver disease, Iqirvo, the companies said on Monday. Primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) causes inflammation of the small bile ducts in the liver and eventually destroys them. It primarily affects women aged 30 to 60, impacting 75,000 in the United States.

US Senate panel to weigh Novo Nordisk subpoena over Ozempic, Wegovy prices

The U.S. Senate health panel said on Tuesday it would vote this month on whether to subpoena Novo Nordisk to answer questions about U.S. prices for weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, which are far higher than those in other countries. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, which is investigating the drugs' costs, said in a statement that at its June 18 meeting it will weigh a subpoena requiring Novo Nordisk Inc President Doug Langa to testify at a July 10 hearing.

Lilly Alzheimer's drug gets unanimous backing from FDA advisory panel

Outside advisers to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday voted unanimously that the benefits of Eli Lilly's experimental Alzheimer's treatment donanemab outweighed its risks, and agreed that trial data showed it was effective in patients with an early stage of the memory-robbing disease. The vote clears the way for a final FDA decision on the treatment, which initially had been expected earlier this year before the agency called for the meeting so its independent panel of experts could weigh in.

Merck pursuing next-generation opportunities in cardiometabolic drugs

Merck is focused on second- and third-generation opportunities in the cardiometabolic drugs market, which includes weight-loss treatments, the company said on Tuesday. "We think more in terms of small-molecule orals, versus injectables. That's the preferred route," CEO Robert Davis said at the Goldman Sachs Global Healthcare Conference.

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