Health News Roundup: Novo Nordisk tells Europe weight-loss drug will save money as well as lives; Exclusive-Danaher in the lead to acquire biomedical equipment vendor Abcam -sources and more

In a statement on Friday, the company said that after one year on Wegovy participants in the late-stage study lost weight and had a 16.6-point improvement on a 100-point health scale based on a range of heart failure-related criteria. Exclusive-Catalent's Indiana plant to make Novo's Wegovy weight-loss drug-sources Catalent's plant in Bloomington, Indiana, will fill injection pens for Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drug Wegovy as part of the two companies' expanded supply agreement, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Novo Nordisk tells Europe weight-loss drug will save money as well as lives

Novo Nordisk aims to convince European governments to pay for its obesity drug Wegovy for the most overweight or those with co-morbidities, its CEO said on Friday, emphasizing both the medical and cost benefits of the treatment. CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen's comments were the most detailed yet on the drugmaker's strategy for expanding in Europe, where most countries have public healthcare systems.

Exclusive-Danaher in the lead to acquire biomedical equipment vendor Abcam -sources

Danaher Corp is in the lead to acquire Abcam Plc, a provider of supplies to life science researchers with a market value of $5.4 billion, as it expands its biomedical offerings, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. Abcam believes that Danaher's all-cash offer is superior to a rival bid from Agilent Technologies Inc, the sources said.

Merck, Eisai discontinue late-stage study for combo cancer therapy

Merck & Co and partner Eisai said on Friday they will shut down a late-stage study testing an experimental combination therapy for a type of head and neck cancer after an interim analysis showed it failed to prolong lives of patients. The therapy, Merck's blockbuster drug Keytruda in combination with Eisai's Lenvima, failed to show statistical significance in extending overall survival, one of the three main goals of the study, the companies said.

SoftBank-backed Neumora Therapeutics files paperwork for U.S. IPO

Neumora Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical firm backed by biotech Amgen and Japan's SoftBank, on Friday filed for an initial public offering of its shares in New York. The filing comes at a time of renewed investor interest in IPOs following a flurry of deals in the United States and European markets, which have over the last year seen many high-profile startups shelve their listing plans due to market volatility.

AstraZeneca sues US over Medicare drug price negotiation plans

AstraZeneca said on Friday it has sued the U.S. government to block parts of a program that gives the Medicare health insurance plan the power to negotiate lower drug prices. The British drugmaker, which filed its complaint in a Delaware district court, joins other drugmakers and business groups claiming that the program would restrict the development of new medicines.

Abortion pill maker loses bid to block West Virginia's abortion ban

GenBioPro Inc, which sells a generic version of the abortion pill mifepristone, has lost a bid to overturn West Virginia's near-total ban on abortion. U.S. District Judge Robert Chambers in Huntington late Thursday rejected the company's argument that West Virginia's ban must be struck down because it conflicts with the federal government's decision to approve and regulate mifepristone for medication abortion, dismissing most of the company's lawsuit.

US CDC advisers set to vote on updated COVID vaccines next month

A panel of independent advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will meet next month to make recommendations on updated COVID-19 vaccines ahead of the fall season, according to a U.S. government website on Friday. The CDC's immunization panel is scheduled to vote on the vaccines at a Sept. 12 meeting, a notice posted on the federal register website showed.

Alnylam to appeal ruling on patents related to Moderna's COVID vaccines

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals said on Friday it plans to appeal a ruling by the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware on two patents asserted against Moderna for the latter's COVID-19 vaccine Spikevax. Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Alnylam sued both Moderna and Pfizer Inc in Delaware last year, seeking royalties for the lipid nanoparticle (LNP) technology their vaccines use to deliver genetic material known as mRNA.

Novo says Wegovy drug helps obese people with heart failure in trial

Novo Nordisk said its hugely popular drug Wegovy was shown to substantially ease heart failure in obese people, as the Danish drugmaker seeks to further build its case for the medicine's health benefits beyond weight loss. In a statement on Friday, the company said that after one year on Wegovy participants in the late-stage study lost weight and had a 16.6-point improvement on a 100-point health scale based on a range of heart failure-related criteria.

Exclusive-Catalent's Indiana plant to make Novo's Wegovy weight-loss drug-sources

Catalent's plant in Bloomington, Indiana, will fill injection pens for Novo Nordisk's weight-loss drug Wegovy as part of the two companies' expanded supply agreement, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. The sources declined to be named because the information is confidential.

(With inputs from agencies.)