LONDON (AP) — Pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline is forming a joint venture with a unit of Google’s parent that will invest 540 million pounds ($714 million) in the relatively new field of bioelectronic medicine.
British health officials have urged pregnant women to consider postponing non-essential travel to Florida after the southern U.S. state confirmed the first cases of the Zika virus that were not linked to travel. Florida, a popular holiday destination for Britons, reported four cases of local transmission on Friday. “Pregnant women should consider postponing non-essential travel to affected areas until after the pregnancy,” Public Health England, the government’s public health agency, said.
(This June 30th story was refiled to fix link at the bottom of the story) By Reyna Gobel (Reuters Health) – Stretching just 10 minutes a day might help ease menopause and depression symptoms in middle-aged women, a small study suggests. “Light-intensity exercises such as stretching have not been previously evaluated for its impact on menopausal and depressive symptoms,” lead researcher Yuko Kai told Reuters Health by email. Forty Japanese women, ages 40 to 61 years, participated in the study at the Physical Fitness Research Institute, Meiji Yasuda Life Foundation of Health and Welfare in Tokyo.
ASUNCION (Reuters) – Paraguay’s health ministry reported the country’s first two cases of microcephaly on Wednesday, associated with the Zika virus that is present in much of South America. U.S. health officials have concluded that Zika infections in pregnant women can cause microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems in babies. (Reporting by Daniela Desantis, writing by Hugh Bronstein)
By Matt Siegel and Tom Westbrook SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Tuesday ordered an inquiry into the treatment of children in detention after the airing of video showing prison guards teargassing teenage inmates and strapping a half-naked, hooded-boy to a chair. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) aired CCTV footage late Monday of inmates in a Northern Territory juvenile detention center also being stripped naked, thrown by the neck into a cell, and held for long periods in solitary confinement. “Like all Australians, I've been deeply shocked – shocked and appalled by the images of mistreatment of children,” Turnbull said on ABC radio as he announced a Royal Commission, Australia's most powerful, state sanctioned inquiry.
By Joshua Schneyer NEW YORK (Reuters) – Over the past few weeks, one U.S. marketing executive's phone has been ringing hot with offers that many sports fans could only dream of: an all-expenses-paid trip to watch the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro next month. The marketing executive, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid harming business relationships, said he had turned down Rio due to prior commitments. “And when you have a souring market, which Brazil has become, the concept of entertaining at a high-profile event can also go sour.” For the host city, corporate entertainment is an important part of its plan to recoup part of its $12 billion (9.15 billion pound) in Games investment.
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The Alaska Supreme Court on Friday struck down a state law requiring parental notification for girls under age 18 seeking abortions, agreeing with pro-abortion rights advocates that the mandate approved by voters in 2010 was unconstitutional.
By Ludwig Burger BASEL, Switzerland (Reuters) – Switzerland's Roche beat market expectations for adjusted net income in the first six months of the year, helped by cancer drug sales but also inflated by a one-off gain from its pensions scheme. Core earnings per share, adjusted for certain items, rose 7 percent to 7.74 Swiss francs ($7.86), where analysts had expected 7.52 francs on average. Deutsche Bank analyst Tim Race said that excluding that effect, results were broadly in line with expectations.
(Reuters) – Zafgen Inc said it was suspending the development of its lead obesity drug, beloranib, more than six months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asked the company to halt all tests on the drug following the death of two patients. Zafgen’s shares tumbled more than 40 percent in extended trading on Tuesday after the company also said it would reduce its workforce by about 34 percent to 31 employees by December. The FDA has approved drugs made by Vivus Inc, Orexigen Therapeutics Inc and Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc in the past few years, but asked for additional studies to check for safety of these drugs.
Swiss drugmaker Roche said trials showed its new blood cancer drug Gazyva failed to deliver significant improvements over an older medicine in people with an aggressive type of blood cancer, a blow in its fight against competition from biosimilars. Gazyva did not significantly reduce the risk of disease worsening or death for people with previously untreated diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, over current drug Rituxan in a phase III GOYA study, Roche said on Monday. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is the most common form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.