Here is a summary of health news briefs.
Catalent Reports Problems at Its Manufacturing Plants; Departure of the financial director
Contract drugmaker Catalent Inc warned on Friday that slow production at three of its facilities would impact its fiscal 2023 results and said chief financial officer Thomas Castellano had resigned, sending its shares plummeting from more than 20%. The company said it encountered “productivity issues” at its gene therapy manufacturing site in Harmans, Md., after a slower-than-expected ramp-up in production capacity would affect its third-and-fourth-quarter revenue. fourth quarters.
Nurses in England reject pay offer and plan further strikes
Nurses in England on Friday rejected an offer for a 5% pay rise and laid out plans for further strikes, dealing a blow to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s attempts to end the dispute and potentially straining nurses. country health services. About 54% of nurses who took part in a ballot voted to reject the deal, said the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) union, which had recommended they accept. Attendance was 61% of eligible members.
Philips clarifies respirator replacement numbers after new FDA reprimand
Philips said on Friday that 2.2 million devices it repaired or replaced during a major breathing apparatus recall are actually in the hands of patients in the United States. The Dutch healthcare device maker released a statement clarifying the progress of the ongoing recall program since 2021 after the FDA released a statement on April 13 that the number of devices the company replaced was “significantly lower to the 2.46 million listed on the company’s website.
US Supreme Court’s Alito temporarily blocks restrictions on abortion pills
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Friday temporarily suspended lower court rulings that set limits on access to the abortion pill mifepristone, giving the nation’s top judicial body time to weigh a bid from President Joe Biden’s administration to defend the drug amid a challenge by anti-abortion groups. The Conservative Justice Action, which handles emergency cases from a group of states including Texas, freezes the litigation and maintains the current availability of mifepristone pending a new order from itself or the entire court.
No evidence yet shows which animal COVID may have come from, says former China CDC chief
There is no evidence yet showing which animal the virus responsible for COVID could have come from, the former head of China’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday. George Gao, who was speaking at a London pandemic preparedness summit, was the head of the agency when COVID first emerged in Wuhan, China in late 2019.
UnitedHealth quarterly pace clouded by Medicare uncertainty in 2024
UnitedHealth Group Inc beat expectations for first-quarter results on Friday, but shares fell 3% after the company failed to address investor concerns about high costs next year due to policy changes for government-sponsored health insurance plans. US health insurers have been under pressure since February, when the government proposed new rules for an audit program to avoid overpayments.
FDA imposes new safety warnings for opioid painkillers
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it would require new safety warnings to be added to prescribing information on opioid painkiller labels, including a warning about increased sensitivity to pain. The FDA said data suggests that patients who use opioids for pain relief after surgery often have leftover pills, putting them at risk for addiction and overdose.
Florida Governor Desantis signs law banning abortion for 6 weeks
Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill that bans most abortions after six weeks, paving the way for a drastic reduction in abortion access in the state and in the southern states -United. DeSantis signed the legislation late Thursday night after lawmakers in the state’s Republican-led House of Representatives approved it by a 70-40 vote. The bill passed the US Senate. state by a vote of 26 to 13 on April 3.
US begins testing bird flu vaccines for poultry after record outbreak
The U.S. government is testing four potential bird flu vaccines for poultry, officials said Friday, after more than 58 million chickens, turkeys and other birds died in the country’s worst-ever outbreak. The trials, conducted by the Agricultural Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), are the first step in a long process towards the first possible use of vaccines to protect American poultry against the deadly virus.
Netherlands to expand ‘right to die’ to include terminally ill children
The Netherlands will expand its existing euthanasia regulations to include the possibility of physician-assisted death for terminally ill children between the ages of one and 12, the Dutch government announced on Friday. The new rules would apply to an estimated group of around 5 to 10 children a year, who suffer unbearably from their illness, have no hope of improvement and for whom palliative care cannot bring relief, said the government.
(With agency contributions.)