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TUESDAY, Nov. 16, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Pfizer announced Tuesday that it has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve the emergency use of its new antiviral pill in people at high risk for severe COVID-19."With more than 5 million deaths and countless lives impacted by this devastating disease globally, there is an urgent need for life-saving treatment options. The overwhelming efficacy achieved in our recent clinical study of Paxlovid, and its potential to help save lives and keep people out of the hospital if authorized, underscores the critical role that oral antiviral therapies could play in the battle against COVID-19," Pfizer chairman and CEO Albert Bourla, said in a company statement. "We are moving as quickly as possible in our effort to get this potential...

TUESDAY, Nov. 16, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Lung cancer survival rates in the United States continue to rise, but certain racial groups are still hit hard by the disease, the American Lung Association reports.Its fourth annual "State of Lung Cancer" report shows that the average five-year survival rate increased from 14.5% to nearly 24%, but it remains at 20% for people of color overall, and 18% for Black Americans."The report highlights important news — more people are surviving lung cancer; however, it also underscores the fact that, sadly, health disparities persist for communities of color," said Harold Wimmer, national president and CEO for the lung association."Everyone deserves the opportunity to lead a full and healthy life, so more must be done to address these health...

TUESDAY, Nov. 16, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Heart failure patients who fit a specific profile can benefit from injection of stem cells delivered directly into their heart muscle, a new study finds.Patients with mild or moderate heart failure who have high levels of inflammation responded well to the stem cell injections, and experienced a decline in their risk of heart attacks, strokes and heart-related death, clinical trial results show.Stem cells injected into targeted areas of a failing heart become activated by inflammation and start pumping out beneficial biochemicals, explained lead researcher Dr. Emerson Perin, medical director of the Texas Heart Institute in Houston."These cells are little factories of different proteins, cytokines and other products that then have an effect...

TUESDAY, Nov. 16, 2021 (HealthDay News) -- Pfizer Inc. announced Tuesday that it has reached an agreement for its promising COVID-19 antiviral pill to be made and sold cheaply in 95 developing nations.The countries included in the licensing deal are mostly in Africa and Asia, and they account for more than half of the world's population, the company said in a statement. Pfizer is partnering on the agreement with Medicines Patent Pool (MPP), a United Nations-backed public health organization working to increase access to lifesaving drugs for low- and middle-income countries.Under the terms of the deal, Pfizer will grant a royalty-free license for the pill to MPP and manufacturers can then take out a sublicense. They will receive Pfizer's formula for the drug, and be able to sell it for...