US ups testing in search of vaping illness cause

Mysterious illness killed over 33 people in US Merck’s Ebola vaccine gets EU green light

CHICAGO, Oct 19, (RTRS): US health officials on Thursday reported another 180 cases of vaping-related lung illnesses and announced plans to start testing aerosols produced by ecigarettes and vaping products as they search for the source of the nationwide outbreak that has so far killed at least 33 people in 24 states.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also said it plans to start testing lung tissue and fluids collected from people who became sick in the outbreak. The CDC said the new testing may lend insight into chemical exposures contributing to the outbreak.

The CDC now reports 1,479 confirmed and probable US cases of the mysterious respiratory illness tied to vaping, up from 1,299 a week ago, an indication that the public health crisis has shown no sign of slowing.

Last week, the CDC and the US Food and Drug Administration said that while many patients became ill after vaping products containing THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, some had only used nicotine vape products. They said more than one root cause may be behind the outbreak.

Primarily

Investigators primarily have been testing the liquids in vape products. Testing the aerosol produced after the liquids are heated might show whether that causes a chemical reaction that produces a toxic substance.

“They might be able to see components that we don’t see in the raw materials,” said an official in the New York Health Department’s Wadsworth laboratory, which has been testing product samples for the state.

A preliminary report seen by Reuters of vaping product samples collected from Wisconsin patients and tested by the FDA showed that more than half contained THC. Of the THCcontaining products, two-thirds also tested positive for Vitamin E acetate, a cutting agent believed to be used to NEW YORK, Oct 18, (RTRS): Sanofi SA said on Friday it would recall popular heartburn medicine Zantac in the United States and Canada, after the medicines were linked with a probable cancer-causing impurity.

The French drugmaker said it was working with health authorities to determine the level and extent of the recall, which it called a precautionary measure being taken due to possible contamination with a substance called N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA).

Sanofi has sold over-the-counter Zantac in the US and Canada since 2017. It is pulling the drug off shelves after previous recalls by some manufacturers of generic versions of the drug.

Sanofi reported Zantac sales of 127 million euros in 2018, 69 million euros over the first half of 2019.

US and European health regulators said last month they were reviewing the safety of ranitidine, which is commonly sold as Zantac and its generic alternatives, after an online pharmacy called Valisure notified

stretch the amount of THC oil, and an early suspect in efforts to determine the cause of the injuries.

The results from Wisconsin match up with earlier reports from state and federal officials. FDA officials last week said it found Vitamin E acetate in 47% of the first 225 THC products it had analyzed.

Among the results, 14 products contained THC, nine of which also tested positive for Vitamin E acetate, while another seven contained nicotine.

New York health officials have now tested nearly 200 products.

“We’ve got nicotine pens; we’ve

them that it had found impurities in the drugs.

The US Food and Drug Administration said earlier this month it found unacceptable levels of NDMA in drugs containing ranitidine. The regulator asked ranitidine makers to conduct their own testing to assess levels of the impurity and to send samples of their products for testing by the agency.

Canada has requested drugmakers halt distribution of the drug while it gathers more information.

Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson, speaking at a press conference in Framingham, Mass, earlier this week, downplayed concerns about the drug. “We don’t believe there’s a risk,” Hudson said on Tuesday. “But we have to – and are appropriately duty bound to – satisfy the regulators, which we will do, and we’ll move on from there.”

Other drugmakers including GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis have recalled or halted distribution of their versions of the drug.

Retailers and pharmacy chains

got THC-containing pens; we’ve got Vitamin E acetate associated with a lot of the THC pens, but we are not in a position to say what’s the cause of this dreadful illness,” the official with New York’s testing lab said.

Many of the products have no labels. Health officials in New York and Utah said they suspect many THC products that do carry labels – such as those under the Dank Vapes brand – are counterfeit. In Utah, state epidemiologist Dr Angela Dunn said the outbreak hit a peak in July and has not let up.

More than 90% of patients reported having vaped THC, and only a handful

including Walmart Inc CVS Health Corp, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc and Rite Aid Corp have suspended the sale of drugs containing ranitidine.

LONDON: The world’s first Ebola vaccine was recommended for approval by European drugs regulators on Friday in a move hailed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a “triumph for public health” that would save many lives.

The vaccine, developed by drugmaker Merck & Co, is already being used under emergency guidelines to try to protect people against the spread of a deadly Ebola outbreak in

of Congo.

US

Democratic Republic

It protects against the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus – the one that most commonly causes outbreaks.

The shot is also being reviewed under a fast-track system by regulators in the United States, with a decision expected in the first quarter of next year.

of cases denied using THC, Dunn said.

The state has tested 20 nicotine vape products and found nothing unexpected. Of 19 THC-containing products, 89% showed evidence of Vitamin E acetate.

None of the state officials said conclusively that the cutting agent was the cause of the injuries, but it remains a suspect.

Dunn said THC is the common denominator in most of Utah’s cases, and until an exact cause is found, the state is focusing on getting people to stop vaping THC. “It’s the only thing we have,” she said.