Following is a summary of current health news briefs.
Roche shares drop after deaths of patients taking Hemlibra
Swiss drugmaker Roche's shares dropped on Wednesday afterit told U.S.-based haemophilia advocacy groups that fivepatients treated with its medicine Hemlibra had died, whilemaintaining that the therapy was not the cause of the deaths.The shares slipped 2 percent by 0850 GMT -- double the declinein the European healthcare sector -- as news of the patientdeaths took the shine off a separate Japanese court ruling inRoche's favour in a patent dispute over Hemlibra with rivaldrugmaker Shire.
First women's yoga training center opens doors in Gaza
A small group of Palestinian women in Gaza are stretchingtheir limbs with yoga to help them teach others to cope with thestresses and traumas of living in the embattled territory. TheGaza Strip, which is dominated by the Islamist Hamas faction,has experienced three wars with neighboring Israel in the past11 years.
Happiness 101: Psychology course strikes chord with Yalestudents
The search for life's sweetest but most elusive treasure -happiness - brings nearly 1,200 Yale University undergraduatestwice a week into an enormous hall on the Connecticut school'scampus for its most popular class ever. "Psychology and the GoodLife" is such a hit that one in four undergraduate students atthe Ivy League university is enrolled in the spring semestercourse, said Laurie Santos, the psychology professor who teachesthe class. It is the largest class enrollment size in thehistory of Yale, founded in 1701.
Teva wins reversal of U.S. jury's $235 million GSK drugpatent verdict
A federal judge on Wednesday overturned a U.S. jury'sverdict that required Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltdto pay GlaxoSmithKline Plc more than $235million for infringing a patent covering its blood pressure drugCoreg. U.S. District Judge Leonard Stark in Wilmington, Delawareruled that the evidence did not support the jury's finding inJune that Teva sales of a generic version of the drug causeddoctors to infringe GSK's patent.
South Africa says deadly listeria strain not found at RCLfactory
Tests at an RCL Foods processed-food factory found no tracesof a strain of listeria that has killed almost 200 people, butthey did find evidence of other strains that could also causethe disease, the South African Ministry of Health said onWednesday. Listeria broke out in South Africa in January lastyear and has since infected almost 1,000 people, 180 of whomhave died, the world's worst recorded listeria outbreak . Mostof them had contracted the ST6 strain of the disease.
Tokyo court rejects Shire claim against Roche hemophiliadrug
A Tokyo court has ruled that Shire's claim againstSwiss drugmaker Roche's new Hemlibra hemophilia medicineshould be dismissed, Roche's Japanese subsidiary Chugai said onWednesday, helping to clear up legal uncertainty over theprospective blockbuster medicine. Chugai, which is 60 percentRoche-owned and which developed Hemlibra, said it expected nochange to its financial prospects due to the ruling.
Aging Japan: Robots may have role in future of elder care
Paro the furry seal cries softly while an elderly woman petsit. Pepper, a humanoid, waves while leading a group of seniorcitizens in exercises. The upright Tree guides a disabled mantaking shaky steps, saying in a gentle feminine voice, “right,left, well done!” Robots have the run of Tokyo's Shin-tominursing home, which uses 20 different models to care for itsresidents. The Japanese government hopes it will be a model forharnessing the country's robotics expertise to help cope with aswelling elderly population and dwindling workforce.
Ireland sets abortion referendum date for May 25
Ireland will hold a referendum on May 25 on whether or notto liberalize its abortion law, the first opportunity in 35years to overhaul one of the world's strictest regimes that haslong divided the once deeply Catholic nation. A complete ban onabortion was only lifted five years ago for cases where themother's life was in danger. That move fueled calls to givevoters under the age of 50 their first say on more comprehensivereform.
Colon cancer screening rates vary widely across U.S.
The proportion of U.S. adults who get recommended coloncancer screenings has never been as high as doctors would like,but a new study suggests that it’s much lower than expected insome pockets of the country. To catch colon cancer early, whenit’s easier to treat and less lethal, physicians typicallyrecommend that adults aged 50 to 75 get screened every 10 yearswith a colonoscopy or annually with fecal tests. Nationwide,only about 67 percent of adults in this age range were currentwith screening, the study found.
FDA working on a 'dozen' policies to boost copycat biotechdrugs
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration is working on around adozen actions to boost use of cheaper versions of expensivebiotech medicines, the head of the agency Scott Gottlieb said onWednesday. The United States has lagged behind Europe in use ofso-called biosimilars, to the frustration of FDA policymakerswho are starting to approve such products but who are seeingother impediments to getting them to consumers.
