Reuters Health News Summary

08/31/2016 8:55

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Upbeat music may make people more cooperative

The right mood music can influence how well people work together, a new management-oriented study suggests. Many retail establishments carefully select the music they play in order to influence consumer behavior, such as encouraging shoppers to buy more, the authors write. But employees hear the same music and its effect on them hasn't been studied.

Singapore confirms Zika spread; U.S. and other countries issue travel warnings

Confirmed cases of Zika virus in Singapore rose to 82 on Tuesday, as the United States joined a growing list of countries warning pregnant women or those trying to get pregnant to avoid travel to the city-state. The mosquito-borne Zika virus, which has caused explosive outbreaks in the Americas and the Caribbean since late last year, poses a particular risk to pregnant women because it can cause microcephaly, a severe birth defect in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains.

Theranos withdraws new Zika test after FDA inspection: WSJ

Blood-testing firm Theranos Inc withdrew its request for emergency clearance of a Zika-virus blood test after U.S. regulators found the company did not include proper patient safeguards in a study on the test, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Theranos was not immediately available for comment.

Express Scripts diabetes program aims to cap costs for customers

Express Scripts Holding, the largest U.S. pharmacy benefit manager, said on Wednesday it will implement a program next year that guarantees per-patient spending caps on diabetes drug costs in an effort to limit soaring increases for its customers. U.S. diabetes prescription drug spending increased 14 percent in 2015 and is forecast to rise at an even faster rate this year and next, according to an Express Scripts report.

Three new cases of local Zika transmission in Florida: officials

Florida health officials on Tuesday said they were investigating three new Zika virus cases likely stemming from local mosquito bites in Miami-Dade County, including two cases outside of the known areas of active transmission. The new infections bring the state's total of non-travel-related cases to 46, according to the Florida Department of Health. Only one of Tuesday's three new cases was linked to Miami Beach, which is known to be an active area for local Zika transmission.

Ebola virus lasts in semen for up to 565 days: study

The largest analysis yet has found Ebola virus particles present in semen as long as 565 days after recovery from an infection, highlighting the potential role of sex in sparking another outbreak, researchers reported on Tuesday. The study, published in the Lancet Global Affairs, involved 429 men seen between July 2015 and May 2016 who were part of the Liberian government's Men's Health Screening Program (MHSP), the first national semen testing program for Ebola virus.

Novartis bid to sell new biosimilar crimped by U.S. court battles

Novartis has won U.S. approval for a copy of Amgen's blockbuster arthritis drug Enbrel, but the Swiss drugmaker's bid to muscle in on the medicine's $4.7 billion in annual U.S. revenue remains blocked by court battles. Novartis's Sandoz unit said on Tuesday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Erelzi, its biosimilar copy of Enbrel, for rheumatoid arthritis, plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and other diseases.

FDA approves Novartis biosimilar to Amgen's Enbrel

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday approved Novartis AG's biosimilar version of Amgen Inc's arthritis drug Enbrel. The FDA approved the drug, Erelzi, known also as etanercept-szzs, for multiple inflammatory conditions including rheumatoid arthritis and plaque psoriasis, a skin condition.

Study finds flaws in criticism of St. Jude cyber security

University of Michigan researchers on Tuesday said their own experiments undermine recent allegations of security flaws in St. Jude Medical Inc's pacemakers and other implantable medical devices. Shares of St. Jude fell 5 percent on Thursday after short-selling firm Muddy Waters and its business partner, cyber security company MedSec Holdings Inc, alleged finding significant security bugs in the company's Merlin@home device for monitoring implanted heart devices. They said the flaws could potentially enable others to remotely speed up the heart devices or drain their power.

2011 Ohio law made abortions riskier, more costly

After Ohio enacted a law forcing abortion providers to prescribe an outdated drug regimen, women who received medication abortions there were more likely to experience complications and higher prices, a study shows. "That's what happens when laws aren't based on scientific evidence," said lead researcher Ushma Upadhyay, of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health at the University of California, San Francisco.

08/31/2016 8:55