Health News Roundup: U.S. FDA to reconvene experts' meeting for Amylyx ALS drug; Panama reports country's first monkeypox case and more

Circuit Court Judge John Cooper said last week that he would grant the request of state abortion providers to temporarily block enforcement of the ban, which first took effect on Friday. Ireland sees 'extensive' autumn COVID-19 vaccine campaign -deputy PM Ireland expects to run an extensive vaccine drive against COVID-19 and flu ahead of a potentially worrying winter surge that could lead to the reimposition of mask wearing in certain settings, Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Tuesday.


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 06-07-2022 02:31 IST | Created: 06-07-2022 02:27 IST
Health News Roundup: U.S. FDA to reconvene experts' meeting for Amylyx ALS drug; Panama reports country's first monkeypox case and more
Representative image Image Credit: ANI

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Panama reports country's first monkeypox case

Panama registered its first case of monkeypox in a resident who was infected after being in contact with tourists from Europe, Panama's health ministry said Tuesday. "Yesterday in the afternoon, the first case of monkeypox in our country was confirmed," Health Minister Luis Sucre said during a press conference, adding the patient "is completely stable" and the "case is properly controlled."

Wacker Chemie invests 100 million euros in mRNA factory

Chemicals group Wacker Chemie has commissioned construction firm Exyte to build a plant for mRNA components, a medical technology first widely used in COVID-19 vaccines, in an investment of 100 million euros ($102.97 million). Wacker said on Tuesday the German state would pay an annual fee to reserve about half of its capacity for its pandemic preparedness programme but declined to say if and how much the state had paid for the construction.

Florida's 15-week abortion ban takes effect after a brief injunction

Florida's ban on abortions past 15 weeks of pregnancy is now in effect after a court order blocking its enforcement on Tuesday was automatically put on hold. Circuit Court Judge John Cooper said last week that he would grant the request of state abortion providers to temporarily block enforcement of the ban, which first took effect on Friday.

Ireland sees 'extensive' autumn COVID-19 vaccine campaign -deputy PM

Ireland expects to run an extensive vaccine drive against COVID-19 and flu ahead of a potentially worrying winter surge that could lead to the reimposition of mask wearing in certain settings, Deputy Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Tuesday. Ireland dropped all COVID-19 curbs earlier this year after having one of Europe's toughest lockdown regimes. While infections are on the rise again, Varadkar said the current wave seemed to be peaking and the number of hospitalised patients was expected to start falling in the next two to three weeks.

U.S. FDA to reconvene experts' meeting for Amylyx ALS drug

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will reconvene a meeting of its outside experts to review Amylyx Pharmaceuticals' application for its amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) treatment, the company said on Tuesday. A panel of outside advisers to the U.S. FDA in March voted six to four against approving the company's oral drug, AMX0035, saying Amylyx's clinical study data failed to establish it was effective against ALS, a neurodegenerative disease.

Omicron sub-variants BA.4, BA.5 make up 70% of COVID variants in U.S. - CDC

The fast-spreading BA.4 and BA.5 sub-lineages of Omicron are estimated to make up a combined 70.1% of the coronavirus variants in the United States as of July 2, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday. BA.4 and BA.5 made up 52% of U.S. variants for the week of June 25. They were added to the World Health Organization's monitoring list in March and designated as variants of concern by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

Abortion worries heightened for unauthorized immigrants in the U.S

Last week calls from Texas began flooding into a national abortion assistance hotline with Spanish-language operators: One woman called afraid to fly to New Mexico because of her immigration status. Another woman said she would have to keep her pregnancy because she feared deportation if she crossed state lines. A third worried that she would be detained by immigration authorities if she used public transportation to travel. Penelope DiAlberto, a regional case manager for Texas at the National Abortion Federation, said the three women were among a massive spike in calls to their hotline on the Friday and Saturday after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that had recognized women's constitutional right to abortion.

CureVac files patent lawsuit in Germany against BioNTech over mRNA technology

CureVac has filed a patent lawsuit in Germany against BioNTech over its use of mRNA technology, marking one of the first known cases of a company going to court amid the fierce competition to develop a vaccine against the coronavirus. The German-based biotech company is seeking "fair compensation" from BioNTech and two subsidiaries for infringement of its intellectual property rights, it said on Tuesday.

British health minister Javid resigns, plunging government into chaos

British Health Secretary Sajid Javid resigned on Tuesday, plunging Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government into crisis. Javid said he had lost confidence in Johnson's ability to govern in the national interest after a series of scandals, saying he could "no longer continue in good conscience".

Italy daily coronavirus cases exceed 100,000 for first time since Feb. - health ministry

Italy reported 132,274 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, health ministry official figures showed, surpassing 100,000 for the first time since Feb. 8. Italy, whose death tally since the beginning of the pandemic is the eight-highest in the world, also reported 94 deaths on Tuesday.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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