Current Health Highlights: Ozempic Restrictions, Alnylam's Breakthrough, and More

This summary covers recent health news, including Danish regulations on Ozempic prescriptions, Alnylam's successful drug trial, significant financial contributions for abortion rights, Alumis' IPO valuation, Wegovy's weight loss effectiveness, Australia's changes to a vape ban, and G1 Therapeutics' breast cancer drug trial results.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Doctors must keep prescriptions for Ozempic in check, Danish regulator says

Doctors in Denmark should limit how many packs of Novo Nordisk's Ozempic diabetes drug patients can pick up at one time, the Danish Patient Safety Authority said on Monday, amid worries that some acquire a larger supply than needed. Demand for the hugely popular diabetes treatment has spiked as some have started using the drug for weight-loss effects similar to that of Novo's Wegovy obesity treatment, which is built on the same core ingredient.

Alnylam's drug cuts risk of death, heart issues in key study, shares jump

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals said on Monday that its drug vutrisiran helped reduced the number of deaths and cardiovascular events in a study of patients with a rare heart disease, sending the drugmaker's shares up 39% in premarket trading. The study enrolled 655 patients who were randomized to receive Alnylam's drug or placebo. Some patients were given an approved drug, Pfizer's tafamadis, at the beginning of the study.

Abortion rights interests plow money into US election races after Supreme Court reversal

In the two years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned women's constitutional right to abortion, political contributions aimed at protecting abortion rights have far outstripped those to support anti-abortion causes. In the 2023-2024 election cycle leading up to the Nov. 5 vote, pro-abortion rights interests have given $3.37 million to federal candidates, political parties, political action committees (PACs) and outside groups, compared to about $273,000 from anti-abortion interests, according to data from OpenSecrets, which tracks money in politics.

Therapy developer Alumis seeks up to $1 billion valuation in US IPO

Alumis is targeting a valuation of up to $1.01 billion in its initial public offering in the United States, the therapy developer said on Monday. Biotech IPOs have shown signs of a rebound this year, but a string of poor post-debut performances have tempered expectations of a full market recovery.

Novo's Wegovy induces higher weight loss in women than men with same heart condition, study shows

Novo Nordisk's popular obesity drug Wegovy helped women with a common heart disease lose more weight than men who had the same condition, an analysis of study data published in a medical journal has shown. The trials included 1,145 patients and were focused on a condition known as heart failure with preserved ejection fraction, or HFpEF, in which the muscles of the heart stiffen and draw in less blood.

Australia waters down planned world first vape ban after opposition from Greens

Australia will water down a planned world first ban on vaping after opposition from the Greens party led the government on Monday to agree to amend a bill that would have restricted vapes to those with a doctor's prescription. The agreement between the ruling centre-left Labor party and the Greens will see legislation pass later this week that restricts the sale of vapes to pharmacies and removes them from retail shelves, where they have fuelled a boom in youth vaping.

G1 Therapeutics' breast cancer drug fails in late-stage trial

G1 Therapeutics said on Monday its drug for a rare, aggressive form of breast cancer did not meet the main goal of overall survival in a late-stage trial. G1's drug trilaciclib was tested in 187 patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer, with the patients who took the drug showing a median overall survival of 17.4 months, while patients who did not receive the treatment survived for 17.8 months overall.

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