NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Women’s health activists on Friday cheered a ruling by Supreme Court ordering the government to shut down “sterilisation camps” within three years following the deaths of hundreds of largely poor rural women across the country. In a judgment on Wednesday, the Supreme Court said ... Read More »

Slowing the rise of antibiotic-resistant “superbugs” may take more than just curbing overuse of antibiotics or eliminating antimicrobial chemicals from household products like soap and cosmetics, a new study suggests. It may also require taking a closer look at antimicrobial chemicals like triclosan that are found in indoor dust, said ... Read More »

Even preemies who receive breathing treatments to improve lung function early in life may have respiratory challenges as children and adolescents, an Australian study suggests. Researchers focused on the most vulnerable subset of premature babies: those born at no more than 28 weeks gestation. These babies are too frail and ... Read More »

U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc’s breast cancer drug, Ibrance, should be given marketing approval, an advisory committee at the European Medicines Agency recommended. The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) gave a positive opinion for Ibrance to be used in combination with two existing therapies in women who have ... Read More »

U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden on Friday announced new measures to help cancer patients navigate the clinical trials process as part of the administration’s “Cancer Moonshot” initiative to speed new treatments to market. In a statement released ahead of a planned speech at Rice University in Houston, Biden said clinical ... Read More »

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc said its discount and rebates program for two high-priced heart drugs would cover over 90 percent U.S. hospitals once it had finalized the last of the 14 group purchasing organizations. Valeant’s statement comes after Bloomberg reported that some medical centers had yet to see a cent ... Read More »

Novartis’s investigational multiple sclerosis drug cut the risk of disability progression in patients with a tough-to-treat form of the disease versus a placebo, the Swiss company said on Saturday, citing a new analysis of a late-stage trial. Novartis is testing BAF312 against secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS), which includes patients ... Read More »

A 17-year-old has committed doctor-assisted suicide in Belgium, the first minor to do so under rules adopted in 2014 allowing euthanasia for people of all ages, the head of the national committee for euthanasia said on Saturday. Wim Distelmans, who chairs Belgium’s Federal Control and Evaluation Committee on Euthanasia, told ... Read More »

State officials in Florida on Friday tripled the active Zika transmission zone in the trendy seaside community of Miami Beach after five new cases of the mosquito-borne virus believed to cause a severe birth defect were identified in the area. The active transmission zone grew from 1.5 square miles to ... Read More »

A global fund has raised over $12.9 billion from international donors as part of a campaign aimed at effectively eradicating AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis by 2030, conference organizers said on Saturday. The Global Fund asked government, faith-based and private-sector partners to raise a total of $13 billion at a donor ... Read More »

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday called on the Republican-led Congress to allow a vote on funding to combat the Zika virus, calling the efforts to fight it a “national emergency.” Biden called for an up-or-down vote speaking alongside fellow Democrats at the Capitol. U.S. lawmakers are mired in ... Read More »

Singapore said on Thursday it did not know if the Zika virus detected in the country could cause the same birth defects and other disorders linked to an outbreak in Latin America. A DNA analysis of the mosquito-borne virus, which has infected almost 300 people in Singapore, including two pregnant ... Read More »