Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson said Monday they had given up tests of a new therapy to treat Alzheimer's disease, saying the treatment did not measure up to expectations.

The final, phase 3 trial of the intravenous bapineuzumab therapy did not meet targets for effectiveness in aiding cognitive and functional performance of Alzheimer's victims, according to the two drug giants.

Cocaine use in several Swiss cities is among the highest in Europe, researchers said on Monday.

"The amounts of cocaine ... were in the same range as those European cities with the highest consumption," said Christoph Ort, from the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag).

Every day dozens of people flock to Salman al-Khafaji's clinic in central Baghdad, hoping the octogenarian can treat their ailments where the Iraqi capital's hospitals and doctors have failed.

Khafaji is one of a dwindling number of mostly men who have filled gaps in Iraq's health system which during the 1990s was short on medicine as a result of the embargo imposed on the country for Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait.

Cancer-busting chemotherapy can cause damage to healthy cells which triggers them to secrete a protein that sustains tumor growth and resistance to further treatment, a study said Sunday.

Researchers in the United States made the "completely unexpected" finding while seeking to explain why cancer cells are so resilient inside the human body when they are easy to kill in the lab.

Philippine nuns and priests led thousands of Catholics in a protest in Manila Saturday against a proposed law that would provide free contraceptives in a bid to curb population growth.

The protesters, mainly dressed in red, gathered at a Catholic shrine to voice opposition to the planned legislation, which would also encourage families to have only two children in an effort to reduce poverty.

The health minister of the Bahamas says he has ordered an investigation into a bacteria outbreak at a local hospital following the death of two babies and amid reports of new cases.

Perry Gomez says four adults and one child in the general intensive care unit of Princess Margaret Hospital in Nassau are carrying the bacteria.

More than 100 rural Peruvians have been sickened by the spill of a toxic copper concentrate produced at one of the Andean country's biggest mines, authorities said Friday.

The Ancash state regional health office said 140 people were treated for "irrigative symptoms caused by the inhalation of toxins" after a pipeline carrying the concentrate under high pressure burst open in their community.

U.S. health officials on Friday warned the public to be careful around pigs after an outbreak of flu among visitors to county fairs.

The virus does not appear to have evolved to the point where it spreads easily among humans, but it does contain a gene from the pandemic H1N1 flu that sickened millions worldwide in 2009 and 2010.

The latest outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus has killed 16 people in Uganda, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday, increasing the previous toll by one.

"Today we have 50 suspected cases and 16 dead," WHO spokesman Tarek Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva.

Scientists said Friday they had developed a revolutionary "spray-on skin" treatment for venous leg ulcers -- a common ailment involving a shallow, open and stubborn wound on the ankle or lower leg.

Using a spray of skin cells suspended in a mixture of proteins that aid blood clotting, the team treated 228 patients in the United States and Canada and found it greatly improved and accelerated wound closure.