Health Headlines: Innovations, Challenges, and Regulatory Shifts

Recent health news includes AstraZeneca's Imfinzi failing in a lung cancer trial, Denmark's restriction on Ozempic prescriptions, Finland's preemptive bird flu vaccination, WHO's mpox alert, Congo's fight against malnutrition, rising drug abuse among Italian teens, FDA's rejection of AbbVie's Parkinson's therapy, famine risk in Gaza, and China's green light for Merck's KEYTRUDA and Novo Nordisk's Wegovy.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

AstraZeneca's Imfinzi fails in late-stage trial to treat certain lung cancers

AstraZeneca's blockbuster cancer drug Imfinzi has failed as a follow-up therapy to improve disease-free survival in a late-stage trial in patients with a type of early-stage lung cancer, the group said on Tuesday. Imfinzi is a human monoclonal antibody, which works to block a tumour's ability to evade and dampen the immune system, while also boosting the body's anti-cancer immune response, offering an alternative to chemotherapy.

Doctors must keep Ozempic prescriptions 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 may acquire a larger supply than needed. Neighbouring Norway meanwhile said it would tighten restrictions on the use of Ozempic, requiring doctors to seek cost reimbursements on behalf of each individual patient rather than an automatic coverage for all users.

Finland to start bird flu vaccinations for humans, in world first

Finland plans to offer preemptive bird flu vaccination as soon as next week to some workers with exposure to animals, health authorities said on Tuesday, making it the first country in the world to do so. The Nordic country has bought vaccines for 10,000 people, each consisting of two injections, as part of a joint EU procurement of up to 40 million doses for 15 nations from manufacturer CSL Seqirus.

WHO, scientists warn on mpox strain in Congo

The spread of mpox in Africa needs to be addressed urgently, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, as scientists warned separately of the dangers of a new strain spreading in a hard-to-reach part of Democratic Republic of Congo. "There is a critical need to address the recent surge in mpox cases in Africa," said Rosamund Lewis, the WHO's technical lead for mpox, in a briefing note to journalists.

Orphans in Congo fed palm weevil larvae in bid to beat malnutrition

At an orphanage in the Democratic Republic of Congo's capital Kinshasa, more than 60 children stared at their plate of palm weevil larvae fried up in spices, sharing nervous smiles, before curiously digging into the thick white worms. The orphans are being fed the protein-rich larvae, known locally as mpose, as part of an initiative from Kinshasa-based non-profit organisation Farms for Orphans, which is seeking to address malnutrition in the west African nation.

Nearly 40% of Italian teens take drugs, government report finds

Almost 960,000 Italians aged between 15 and 19, or 39% of them, have consumed illegal substances at least once, an annual government report to parliament showed on Tuesday, as drug abuse headed back towards pre-pandemic levels. Italy - home to powerful mafia groups that raise billions through drug trafficking - saw some 54,000 young people use cocaine in 2023, while around 550,000 said they had used cannabis-related products at least once.

US FDA declines to approve AbbVie's Parkinson's disease therapy

AbbVie said on Tuesday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had declined to approve its therapy to treat motor fluctuations in Parkinson's disease patients, citing manufacturing concerns at a third-party manufacturer. The inspection at the facility did not involve the Parkinson's therapy called ABBV-951 or any other AbbVie medicine.

High risk of famine persists across Gaza, global hunger monitor says

A high risk of famine persists across the whole of the Gaza Strip as long as conflict between Israel and Hamas continues and humanitarian access remains restricted, a global hunger monitor said on Tuesday. Over 495,000 people, or more than one fifth of Gaza's population, are facing the most severe, catastrophic level of food insecurity, said an update from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

China grants licence to Merck's KEYTRUDA for stomach cancer treatment

China's National Drug Administration has granted Merck's KEYTRUDA therapy a licence for first-line treatment of certain stomach cancer patients in the country. Merck is known as MSD outside the United States and Canada.

Novo Nordisk's Wegovy weight-loss drug approved in China

Novo Nordisk's hugely popular weight-loss drug Wegovy has been approved in China, it said on Tuesday, the world's second-largest economy and the country estimated to hold the highest number of overweight or obese people. The company will communicate details on pricing and availability when it launches, it told Reuters in a statement. Novo said in March it would initially target Chinese patients willing to pay out-of-pocket for the weekly injectable drug.

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