Reuters Health News Summary
Following is a summary of current health news briefs.
AstraZeneca's experimental drug disappoints in breast cancer survival trial
AstraZeneca said on Monday its experimental precision drug developed with Japan's Daiichi Sankyo did not significantly improve overall survival for patients with a type of breast cancer in a late-stage trial. The overall survival, or OS rates, in the TROPION-Breast01 Phase III trial of datopotamab deruxtecan (Dato-DXd), did not achieve statistical significance compared with chemotherapy, AstraZeneca said.
Biohaven's genetic disease drug meets main trial goal
Biohaven has met the main goal in a study evaluating its drug in patients with an inherited disease that mainly affects the brain, the company said on Monday. The drug troriluzole showed clinically meaningful slowing of disease progression in patients with Spinocerebellar Ataxia (SCA), the company said.
Zevra Therapeutics prices rare genetic disorder drug at up to $106,000 per month
Zevra Therapeutics' drug, Miplyffa, for treating a rare and fatal genetic disorder will have a wholesale acquisition cost ranging between $40,000 and $106,000 per month depending on dosage, the company said on a conference call on Monday. The U.S. health regulator on Friday approved the drug making it the first treatment to get a nod for Neimann-Pick disease type C (NPC) - a rare genetic condition that affects the nervous system and other organs.
India reports first case of mpox from new, fast-spreading clade 1b variety
India said on Monday that an mpox case involving a traveler in the southern state of Kerala was from the fast-spreading clade 1b variety, marking the country's first recorded case from the new strain. Manisha Verma, a spokesperson for the health ministry, confirmed the strain after news agency ANI cited official sources as saying that the mpox case reported in Kerala's Malappuram district last week belonged to clade 1.
Novo Nordisk faces US congressional grilling over price of weight loss drugs, FT reports
Novo Nordisk's chief executive is preparing for a showdown next week with U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders over the high price of blockbuster diabetes and weight loss drugs, as Ozempic falls into the scope of U.S. government price controls, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
Almost 30,000 suspected mpox cases in Africa this year, WHO says
Nearly 30,000 suspected mpox cases have been reported in Africa so far this year, most of them in Democratic Republic of Congo where tests have run out, the World Health Organization said on Monday. More than 800 people died of suspected mpox across the continent in that time, the U.N. health body said in its report. Congo's central African neighbor Burundi has also been hit by a growing outbreak, it added.
