Health News Update: Bird Flu Risks, Weight-loss Drugs & Legal Battles

This summary covers several important current health news topics. Key highlights include the potential risk of a bird flu pandemic, success of an experimental immune disorder therapy, ongoing legal challenges for drug producers regarding Zantac and COVID-19 vaccines, calls by U.S. leaders to reduce prices of weight-loss drugs, and various other updates.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Scientists wary of bird flu pandemic 'unfolding in slow motion'

Scientists tracking the spread of bird flu are increasingly concerned that gaps in surveillance may keep them several steps behind a new pandemic, according to Reuters interviews with more than a dozen leading disease experts. Many of them have been monitoring the new subtype of H5N1 avian flu in migratory birds since 2020. But the spread of the virus to 129 dairy herds in 12 U.S. states signals a change that could bring it closer to becoming transmissible between humans. Infections also have been found in other mammals, from alpacas to house cats.

Cartesian's immune disorder therapy meets main goal in mid-stage study

Cartesian Therapeutics said on Tuesday that its experimental therapy helped reduce symptoms of a rare, immune-related disorder, meeting the main goal in a mid-stage study. The therapy known as descartes-08 is a chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy, or CAR-T cell therapy, to treat patients with myasthenia gravis - an autoimmune disorder that causes disabling muscle weakness and fatigue.

Drugmakers' appeal to end Zantac cancer lawsuits rebuffed by judge

A Delaware judge rebuffed a request by GSK and other drugmakers to appeal a ruling allowing more than 70,000 lawsuits claiming that the heartburn drug Zantac caused cancer to go forward. The ruling by Judge Vivian Medinilla of the Delaware Superior Court means that the drugmakers, which also include Pfizer, Sanofi and Boehringer Ingelheim, will have to ask the Delaware Supreme Court directly for permission to appeal. GSK said it already submitted its appeal to that court.

US awards Moderna $176 million to produce bird flu vaccine

The U.S. government has awarded $176 million to Moderna to advance development of its bird flu vaccine, the company said on Tuesday, as concerns rise over a multi-state outbreak of H5N1 virus in dairy cows and infections of three dairy workers since March. The funds from the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority will be used to complete late-stage development and testing of a pre-pandemic mRNA-based vaccine against H5N1 avian influenza, the company said in a statement.

Novo Nordisk, Lilly must cut prices of weight-loss drugs, Biden says in USA Today

U.S. President Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders called on Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly to reduce the prices of their weight loss and diabetes drugs, in an opinion piece by them published in USA Today on Tuesday. A 2 milligram package of Ozempic carries a list price of $935.77 in the U.S., while Wegovy is priced at $1,349.02 per package, according to the drugmaker's website. Eli Lilly's Mounjaro costs roughly $1,100 per month.

US DOJ drops Viatris unit Mylan from industry-wide antitrust probe

Viatris unit Mylan is no longer a subject of the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust investigation into alleged price fixing in the generic drug industry, the parent company said on Tuesday. Mylan and several major drugmakers such as Israel's Teva Pharmaceutical Industries and India's Sun Pharmaceutical Industries have been under the DOJ's scanner for more than eight years over alleged anticompetitive business practices in fixing prices of certain generic drugs.

Bird flu hits McDonald's breakfasts in Australia

Good luck getting a late-morning McMuffin in Australia.

McDonald's has cut breakfast service timings by 1-1/2 hours, the company said, after a shortage of eggs caused by bird flu outbreaks that have led to the slaughter of about 1.5 million chickens.

Central African Republic's children are world's most deprived, UNICEF says

The Central African Republic's three million children are the world's most deprived, with widespread malnutrition, inadequate healthcare access and instability putting the country at high risk of a humanitarian crisis, UNICEF said on Tuesday. Half of the country's children do not have access to health services, and almost 40% suffer from chronic malnutrition, the U.N. children's agency said. Few have access to clean water, sanitation or healthy diets.

Pfizer v Moderna COVID vaccine patents battle set to continue after UK ruling

Pfizer and Moderna's legal battle over their rival COVID-19 vaccines looks set to continue after London's High Court gave a mixed ruling on two of Moderna's patents, likely prompting a flurry of appeals in the London leg of the litigation. Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech sued Moderna in London in September 2022, seeking to revoke two patents held by Moderna, which hit back days later alleging its patents had been infringed.

India panel urges drug regulator to approve Lilly's obesity drug Mounjaro

An Indian government-approved expert panel has advised the country's drug regulator to approve the import and sale of U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly's Mounjaro, a blockbuster diabetes drug and a wildly popular obesity treatment, a document on a government website showed on Monday. Lilly's Mounjaro, chemically known as tirzepatide, and Zepbound and Danish rival Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Ozempic belong to a class of therapies known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, developed to control blood sugar in patients with type 2 diabetes.

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