Weekly Recap: 15 Health Press Releases You Need to See

A roundup of the most newsworthy healthcare press releases from PR Newswire this week, including the first use of Johnson & Johnson's robotic surgical system and a staggering global statistic on pediatric antimicrobial resistance.

NEW YORK, April 18, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on PR Newswire. To help healthcare journalists and consumers stay on top of the week's most newsworthy and popular releases, here's a recap of some major stories from the week that shouldn't be missed.

The list below includes the headline (with a link to the full text) and an excerpt from each story. Click on the press release headlines to access accompanying multimedia assets that are available for download.

1. Johnson & Johnson MedTech Announces Completion of First Cases with OTTAVA™ Robotic Surgical System
   OTTAVA is designed as a multi-specialty soft-tissue surgery robot, supporting a broad range of procedures across patient anatomy and surgical specialties, including the most complex surgeries that require a multi-quadrant approach.
2. Novo Nordisk warns consumers about counterfeit Ozempic^® (semaglutide) injection 1 mg in the US
   Novo Nordisk has become aware of several hundred units of Ozempic^® (semaglutide) injection 1 mg distributed outside the Novo Nordisk authorized supply chain in the US. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also updated its website with information about these counterfeit versions of Ozempic.
3. IMDELLTRA^® Demonstrated Superior Overall Survival in Small Cell Lung Cancer
   IMDELLTRA demonstrated statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in overall survival (OS) compared to local standard-of-care (SOC) chemotherapy. Jay Bradner, M.D., executive vice president, Research and Development, at Amgen, commented on the "overwhelming clinical benefit" stating the results "affirm IMDELLTRA as standard of care."
4. The Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation Issues Emergency Grant Cycle to Address Forthcoming Gap Funding
   Providing financial resources to organizations in need, the initiative will be aimed at ensuring that critical, wrap-around health services for HIV treatment & prevention and programs focused on Transgender communities can continue to operate into the near future.
5. Over 3 million children died from AMR-related infections in 2022, major study shows
   The study data found that in 2022 alone, more than 752,000 children in Southeast Asia and 659,000 children in Africa died of antimicrobial resistance (AMR)-related infections. Globally, of the more than 3 million children's deaths, 2 million were associated with the use of Watch and Reserve antibiotics.
6. SHIELD-Utah Study Shows Novavax's COVID-19 Vaccine Induces Lower Reactogenicity Symptoms Compared to mRNA
   Preliminary data showed Novavax's non-mRNA JN.1 COVID-19 vaccine induced lower frequency and severity of short-term side effects and impact on daily life compared with Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine.
7. Crunch Fitness Announces Strategic Investment from Leonard Green & Partners
   Under the terms of the agreement, LGP will acquire a majority interest in Crunch Fitness from TPG Growth, the middle market and growth equity platform of global alternative asset management firm TPG, and Crunch's minority shareholders.
8. Lilly's oral GLP-1, orforglipron, demonstrated statistically significant efficacy results and a safety profile consistent with injectable GLP-1 medicines in successful Phase 3 trial
   "As a convenient once-daily pill, orforglipron may provide a new option and, if approved, could be readily manufactured and launched at scale for use by people around the world," said David A. Ricks, Lilly chair and CEO.
9. Hyundai Hope on Wheels Commemorates 27th Anniversary with $27 Million Donation to Pediatric Cancer Research
   "Hyundai Hope on Wheels has been a driving force in pediatric cancer research for nearly three decades, and we are proud to expand its reach beyond the U.S. to support children throughout North America," said Randy Parker, president and CEO, Hyundai Motor North America.
10. Norgine strengthens rare disease portfolio with acquisition of Theravia
    The acquisition of Theravia from Mérieux Equity Partners represents a meaningful step forward in Norgine's strategy for sustainable growth, adding a complementary portfolio of rare disease medicines.
11. New Docuseries People Worth Caring About Shines a Light on Ohio's Long-Term Care Workers
    Long-term care workers play a critical role in the well-being of hundreds of thousands of Ohio residents, yet their stories often go untold. People Worth Caring About seeks to change that by showcasing the personal and professional journeys of these caregivers, illuminating the challenges they face and the deep fulfillment they find in their work.
12. Illumina and Tempus partner to drive the future of precision medicine through genomic AI innovation
    The collaboration will combine leading Illumina AI technologies with Tempus's comprehensive multimodal data platform to train genomic algorithms and ultimately accelerate clinical adoption of molecular testing for patients.
13. Recently Discovered Immune Cell Type Is Key to Understanding Food Allergies
    A new study led by researchers at NYU Langone Health has revealed that a special group of cells in the intestines tamp down the immune responses caused by exposure to food proteins. Called "tolerogenic dendritic cells," these cells enable food to pass through the body without triggering an immune reaction, unless they malfunction to cause allergies.
14. Optellum Announces Agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb to Leverage AI to Boost Early Lung Cancer Diagnosis
    Optellum's Virtual Nodule Clinic (VNC) is the first FDA-cleared AI-powered decision support tool for early-stage lung cancer, reimbursed by CMS and implemented by leading health systems.
15. New Research to Examine the Impact of Service Dogs On Post Traumatic Growth in Veterans with PTSD
    "Most research on PTSD has focused on the negative impacts of trauma exposure, but more recently, there has been growing interest in the potential for positive shifts after traumatic experiences," said Dr. Kevin Morris, the Principal Investigator of this research project. "We hypothesize that pairing veterans with PTSD and psychiatric service dogs will help promote this positive growth, which may include feelings of hope, agency, and a sense of purpose or meaning in life."

For more news like this, check out all of the latest health-related releases from PR Newswire.

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