Public health, medicine, pharma, and healthcare policy
Sean 'Diddy' Combs was transferred from Fort Dix to a hospital after sustaining a head injury during his time at the prison. His family publicly denied reports that the injury followed a fight with Jamaican inmate Christopher Coke, calling those reports "completely false."
The Vatican announced Pope Leo, 71 and a non-smoker, has lung adenocarcinoma; the diagnosis comes as WHO reported rising lung cancer among never-smokers in 2026 and an Australian 2026 review highlighted potential cancer risks linked to vaping.
The Independent Broad‑based Anti‑corruption Commission found two senior public servants sought to conceal that about $285 million in COVID‑19 grants had been paid to ineligible Victorian businesses. The report says the errors involved more than 9,000 businesses backdating GST registrations, that about $257 million was paid to ineligible businesses, and recipients have repaid about $8 million to the state to date.
Caroline Bailey says stabbing pain from a contraceptive coil that was pressing against a 13cm tumour prompted her to seek medical help. She was diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer and, after chemotherapy and surgery at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, now has no evidence of disease.
The New York City Medical Examiner and the NYPD genetic genealogy squad identified a second victim of the September 11, 2001 World Trade Center attacks using investigative genetic genealogy. The identified person is an adult woman whose name has not been released at her family's request and who was killed when the Twin Towers collapsed.
NSW Police closed 10 retailers across the state and seized illegal plain-pack cigarettes, AAP reports. NSW Health inspectors seized 420,000 illegal cigarettes and about 60kg of loose-leaf tobacco across two days, the AAP article says.
Teva Pharmaceuticals won US FDA approval for WELTRUZA, a once-monthly subcutaneous extended-release injectable formulation of olanzapine. Teva said the approval, announced on October 9, 2026, clears a US launch in the coming weeks and that WELTRUZA does not require loading doses, oral supplementation or post-injection monitoring.
Archie Goodburn told Brain Tumour Research that he was initially told he had a migraine before he was diagnosed with an oligodendroglioma. He said the cancer was described to him as incurable with a 10 to 12 year prognosis and that he began taking vorasidenib in summer 2025, which he called "transformational."
