Reuters - Health Report

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Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Tech companies wage war on disease-carrying mosquitoes

CHICAGO (Reuters) - American technology companies are bringing automation and robotics to the age-old task of battling mosquitoes in a bid to halt the spread of Zika and other mosquito-borne maladies worldwide.

Sanofi to buy vaccines biotech group Protein Sciences

PARIS (Reuters) - French drugmaker and healthcare group Sanofi is to buy privately-held U.S vaccines biotech company Protein Sciences for an initial amount of $650 million, as Sanofi steps up its acquisition program after recently missing two large deals.

Healthcare disagreements roil U.S. Senate Republicans

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican senators returned to Washington on Monday following a 10-day holiday recess still at odds with one another over legislation President Donald Trump wants passed to repeal major portions of Obamacare.

Yemen cholera cases pass 300,000 mark, ICRC says

GENEVA (Reuters) - A 10-week cholera epidemic has now infected more than 300,000 people in Yemen, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday, a health disaster on top of war, economic collapse and near-famine in the impoverished country.

Meningitis shot also offers some defense against gonorrhea, study finds

LONDON (Reuters) - Researchers studying a mass vaccination campaign against meningitis have found a surprising side effect - the shots also offered moderate protection against gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted infection that is causing global alarm.

Shire, Roche slug it out in billion-dollar haemophilia drug battle

ZURICH (Reuters) - Swiss drugmaker Roche's bid to take a chunk of the $11 billion haemophilia drug market dominated by Shire took another blow with the Irish company winning a preliminary injunction over its Swiss rival's medication.

British judge looks for new evidence in case of critically-ill baby

LONDON (Reuters) - The parents of a critically ill British baby have a few days to compile new evidence their son would benefit from experimental treatment in the United States, a judge said on Monday, adding that he would not be swayed by international interest.

Arena's heart-lung drug succeeds in mid-stage study, shares soar

(Reuters) - U.S. drug developer Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc said on Monday its experimental drug for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a rare but deadly lung disease, met the main goal in a mid-stage study.

Coffee drinking linked to lower risk of death

(Reuters Health) - People who drink the most coffee are less likely to die than those who drink the least or none, according to two new studies that followed nearly three quarters of a million people for about 16 years.

'Brain training' program doesn't improve self control

(Reuters Health) - Brain training programs may make people better at using brain training programs, but they don’t improve decision-making skills in real-world tasks like making healthy choices, a new study concludes.