Reuters Health News Summary

07/26/2016 8:56

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Celgene drug fails to extend survival in lymphoma study

Celgene Corp said on Monday that its flagship drug Revlimid failed to extend survival as a maintenance therapy for a type of blood cancer after patients had responded to prior treatment. As a result, the U.S. biotechnology company said it would not seek an additional approval for Revlimid for that use, and its shares fell more than 2 percent.

Colombia declares end to Zika epidemic inside country

Colombian health officials declared on Monday that the worst of a Zika outbreak in the Andean nation had passed just 10 months after its arrival, raising questions about how the virus is affecting parts of Latin America differently. Vice Health Minister Fernando Ruiz told journalists that the number of infections in Colombia has been falling by 600 cases a week. While Zika is still circulating in the country, Colombia considers the drop-off sufficient to say it has moved into an endemic phase from the epidemic phase.

China's condom policies to prevent HIV fail to protect sex workers: research

Chinese police cracking down on sex workers routinely look for condoms as evidence of illegal activity, hindering efforts to prevent the spread of HIV among sex workers, one of the biggest at-risk groups in the country, experts said. China, with a population of about 1.4 billion, has a relatively low HIV prevalence rate, with around half a million reported cases of people living with HIV or AIDS by the end of 2014, according to a government report published last year.

Health insurer Centene's profit beats; raises forecast

Centene Corp reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit as the health insurer benefited from lower medical costs and an increase in Medicare and commercial customers from its acquisition of rival Health Net. The company, which primarily focuses on government-sponsored health plans, said commercial membership rose more than eight times and Medicare and dual plan membership jumped nearly 11 times in the second quarter from a year earlier.

General Mills expands flour recall to more batches

General Mills Inc said it was expanding its flour recall to more batches after the detection of E. coli in its flour samples that led to four new cases of illnesses. One of the four persons developed a type of kidney failure, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. (http://bit.ly/1sqaiw2)

U.S. health officials update Zika transmission and testing guidance

U.S. health officials issued updated recommendations for preventing and testing for Zika infection on Monday, warning that the virus can be transmitted through unprotected sex with an infected female partner. Previously, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other experts, believed that the virus could only be sexually transmitted by males because it can reside in semen potentially for several months.

Olympics unlikely to worsen global spread of Zika

People visiting Brazil for the 2016 Olympics won't significantly add to the global spread of Zika virus, according to a new analysis. Most likely, only six to 80 people visiting Brazil for the Olympics would be infected with Zika virus, and between one and 16 would feel any symptoms, researchers suggest.

Lilly sales beat estimates, helped by newer drugs

Eli Lilly and Co on Tuesday reported better-than-expected quarterly sales, fueled by sales of newer drugs, and predicted average annual revenue growth of at least 5 percent through the end of the decade thanks to its growing roster of medicines. The Indianapolis drugmaker, whose earnings growth resumed last year after three years of tumbling sales caused by competition from generic drugs, said investors can count on annual dividend increases in 2016 and beyond.

When pot became legal in Colorado, kids' exposures went up

After recreational marijuana was legalized in Colorado, there was an increase in hospitalizations and poison control center visits for kids who'd been accidentally exposed to the drug, researchers say. Recreational marijuana became available in Colorado in 2014, and three other states now allow recreational use, the study authors point out in JAMA Pediatrics.

Spain registers first case in Europe of baby born with Zika-related defect

Spain has recorded the first case in Europe of a baby born with the microcephaly birth defect associated with the Zika virus, Spanish health authorities said on Monday. Though dozens of people in Europe are known to have contracted Zika, usually after spending time in affected countries such as Brazil, it is the first European birth of a baby with the defect by a mother carrying the virus.

07/26/2016 8:56