Health News

(NEW YORK) -- The company and once-prominent family behind the drug OxyContin agreed Thursday to increase their financial contribution to resolve mass opioid litigation.The Sacklers and Purdue Pharma boosted their settlement contribution to $7.4 billion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a prior settlement in June 2024. If approved, the new plan would end the costliest corporate bankruptcy resulting from the U.S. opioid crisis.Purdue, under the leadership of the Sackler families, […]

Evgenia Matveeva/Getty Images (NEW YORK) -- Moderna has been awarded approximately $590 million from the federal government to help speed up the development of an mRNA-based bird flu vaccine, alongside other influenza vaccines, health officials announced Friday.The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a press release that the funding will allow the pharmaceutical company to accelerate the development of an H5N1 mRNA influenza vaccine "that is […]

(SAN FRANCISCO) -- A child in San Francisco was recently confirmed to be the third human case of bird flu in the United States in which it's unclear how the person got infected.Cases have been spreading across the country since April 2024 with 67 confirmed as of Thursday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).Most human cases have occurred after coming into contact with infected cattle, infected poultry farms or other […]

(NEW YORK) -- Women are now being diagnosed with cancer more often than men in certain age groups, according to a new report from the American Cancer Society.Among adults aged 50-64, cancer rates are slightly higher in women, and women under 50 are almost twice as likely as men in the same age group to receive a cancer diagnosis.The report, released Thursday, found that while deaths continue to decrease, troubling […]

(WASHINGTON) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is moving to ban the use of Red No. 3 dye in food products.The agency said Wednesday it is amending its color additive regulations to no longer allow the use of Red No. 3 in food, beverages and ingested drugs, in response to a 2022 petition from health groups and activists.FD&C Red No. 3, also known as Red 3, is a synthetic […]

(LOS ANGELES) -- Health care centers and medical facilities remain closed as the devastating California wildfires spread.At least 24 people are believed to be dead and more than a dozen others remain unaccounted for as of Monday morning. Additionally, 105,000 people remain under mandatory evacuation orders and another 87,000 are under evacuation warnings.Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest health care systems in California, said most of its facilities remain open and […]

(LOS ANGELES) -- As devastating wildfires continue to spread across southern California, thousands of structures have been destroyed or damaged and at least five people have been killed.Residents and firefighters have suffered physical injuries, but doctors say the wildfires can also take a heavy mental health toll on civilians and first responders."I think when disaster like this is unfolding, it makes sense to prioritize people's lives and mortality but, over time, we […]

(NEW YORK) -- Meta -- the company that operates Facebook, Instagram, Threads and WhatsApp --announced on Tuesday it was ending third-party fact-checking.Some social media policy experts and public health experts are worried that the end of fact-checking could lead to the spread of medical and science misinformation and disinformation. This is especially worrisome as the U.S. is in the throes of respiratory virus season and is fighting the spread of […]

(NEW YORK) -- In the nearly nine months since the first human case of bird flu was detected in the United States, the virus has continued to spread.The outbreak infected hundreds of herds and millions of birds before it spread to humans. As of Jan. 6, there have been 66 human cases of bird flu reported in 10 states, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention […]