Reuters Health News Summary

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

US FDA panel to discuss Eli Lilly Alzheimer’s drug on June 10

Eli Lilly said on Tuesday a panel of independent U.S. FDA advisers will discuss its experimental Alzheimer’s disease drug, donanemab, on June 10. Donanemab has faced two separate regulatory delays in the United States, while a similar therapy by Eisai and partner Biogen, called Leqembi, received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval last year.

Florida sues Biden administration over new transgender healthcare rule

Florida’s top prosecutor and a Catholic medical group on Tuesday sued the Biden administration in an effort to block a rule that they say will force doctors to provide gender transition care against their judgment or face heavy penalties. The lawsuit by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and the Catholic Medical Association (CMA), filed in federal court in Tampa, takes aim at a new rule published by the U.S. Department of Health and Services (HHS) on Monday that would ban discrimination in healthcare on the basis of gender identity.

Pfizer reports patient death in Duchenne gene therapy study

A young patient died due to cardiac arrest after receiving Pfizer’s experimental gene therapy being tested in a mid-stage trial for a muscle-wasting disorder called Duchenne muscular dystrophy(DMD), the drugmaker told Reuters on Tuesday. “A fatal serious adverse event was reported as cardiac arrest for a participant in the Phase 2 DAYLIGHT study,” a company spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed response.

US FDA panel to discuss first psychedelic-assisted PTSD treatment next month

The U.S. FDA’s panel of independent advisers will on June 4 deliberate whether they should recommend approval for the first MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder, Lykos Therapeutics said on Monday. This would be the first FDA panel of outside experts to review a potential new PTSD treatment in 25 years.

AstraZeneca says it will withdraw COVID-19 vaccine globally as demand dips

AstraZeneca said on Tuesday it had initiated the worldwide withdrawal of its COVID-19 vaccine due to a “surplus of available updated vaccines” since the pandemic. The company also said it would proceed to withdraw the vaccine Vaxzevria’s marketing authorizations within Europe.

McKesson misses quarterly estimates as US pharmaceuticals segment weighs

McKesson Corp reported weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue and profit on Tuesday due to slump in demand for the company’s branded and specialty drugs that dragged sales in its U.S. pharmaceutical segment. The drug distributor’s pharmaceutical segment in the U.S., its largest unit by revenue that sells drugs used to treat complex conditions such as cancer, saw weaker-than-expected sales.

Bio-Rad Laboratories reiterates 2024 revenue growth outlook; shares slip

Diagnostics firm Bio Rad Laboratories reiterated its 2024 sales growth forecast on Tuesday, weighed by persistently weak spending by biotech companies and sluggish demand in China.

The supplier of laboratory apparatus and instruments for drug manufacturers and biotech companies continues to see adjusted revenue growth for the full-year between 1% and 2.5% on a currency-neutral basis.

Fresenius Medical beats earnings expectations, keeps outlook; shares sink

Fresenius Medical Care beat first-quarter operating earnings expectations on Tuesday amid higher pricing and cost-cut savings, but the German company still maintained its profit outlook for 2024, sending its shares down in early trading. Adjusted operating income in the quarter surged 23% to 416 million euros ($448 million), beating the average analyst estimate of 386 million euros posted on the website of the world’s biggest dialysis provider.

Idaho seeks to revive ‘abortion trafficking’ law in US appeals court

A lawyer for the state of Idaho on Tuesday urged a federal appeals court to revive a 2023 state law making it a crime to help a minor cross state lines for an abortion without her parent’s consent, which a lower court judge had blocked in November. “The law is narrow, and one would think, unobjectionable,” Idaho Deputy Solicitor General Joshua Turner told the three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Seattle.

Bankrupt Steward Health puts its hospitals up for sale, discloses $9 billion in debt

Bankrupt Steward Health Care has put all of its 31 U.S. hospitals up for sale, hoping to finalize transactions by the end of the summer to address its $9 billion in total liabilities, its attorneys said at a Tuesday court hearing in Houston. Steward, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday, hopes to keep all of its hospitals open over the long term, Steward attorney Ray Schrock told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Chris Lopez, who is overseeing the Chapter 11 proceedings.

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