TASK DEFINITION: Given a paragraph, generate a claim that is supported by the given paragraph. 1) The claim must contain information from within the paragraph. 2) A sentence within the paragraph can be used as a claim. 3) The claim should not have contradictions within the paragraph. 4) The claim should be at most one sentence long.
PROBLEM: The furor, which erupted in Ireland last month and then spread quickly across Europe, has led to ready meals being pulled from supermarket shelves and damaged people’s confidence in the food on their plate. It also raised concerns over food labeling and the complex supply chain across the European Union, putting pressure on governments to explain lapses in quality control. A fifth of adults said they had started buying less meat after traces of horse DNA were found in some products, according to the poll conducted by Consumer Intelligence research company. “Our findings show that this scandal has really hit consumers hard, be it through having to change their shopping habits or altering the fundamentals of their diet,” David Black, a spokesman for Consumer Intelligence, said. The online poll, conducted on February 14-15, questioned more than 2,200 adults on their spending habits following the horsemeat scandal. It gave no specific figures on how much meat people were buying, focusing only on broader trends. More than 65 percent of respondents said they trusted food labels less as a result. “(Brands) will have to put in place really stringent ways of checking that what’s being delivered and what’s on the label is indeed what’s in there,” Black said. In the month since horsemeat was first identified in Irish beefburgers, no one is yet reported to have fallen ill from eating horse but many supermarkets and fast food chains are already struggling to save their reputations. Governments across Europe have stressed that horsemeat poses little or no health risk, although some carcasses have been found tainted with a painkiller given to racehorses but banned for human consumption. Environment secretary Owen Paterson, who met British retailers earlier in the day for talks on how to restore consumer confidence, said Britain was closely cooperating with European countries to investigate what happened. “Looking ahead, there was absolute determination in the industry to restore confidence in their products,” he said in televised remarks. “We look forward to meeting on a regular basis to absolutely make it clear that when consumers buy a product they get what they bought.”  British retailers now expect the vast majority of tests on processed beef products to be completed by February 22, according to the British Retail Consortium. More than 60 percent of adults surveyed said they would now buy meat from their local butchers, the poll said, while a quarter of adults said they would now buy more joints, chops or steaks instead of processed meat. Michael Suleyman, who owns a family-run butchers’ shop in Brixton, London, said more customers appeared concerned although for now there had not been any difference in sales figures. “We have seen people panicking and asking us lots of questions like ‘where do you get your meat from?’,” Suleyman, 51, told Reuters. “We assure our customers by showing them the meat and mincing it for them in front of their eyes.”  But with inflation running above central bank targets and an uncertain job market, the spending power of British consumers has been eroded in recent years and, for some, buying more expensive meat is not an option. Nearly a fifth of respondents said they wanted buy less processed meat such as ready-meals, but could not afford to. At a London branch of Britain’s biggest retailer, Tesco, which found horse DNA in some of its own-brand frozen spaghetti bolognese meals last week, consumers were still buying meat products. “I’ve got nothing against horse meat,” said Sean Cosgrove, 39, a local government employee. “I think you’re being ambitious if you expect top quality meat in those products anyway.”

SOLUTION: British shoppers saying nay to meat after horse scandal.

PROBLEM: Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd’s rival migraine headache preventer is excluded on one list and patients can pay more for it in some cases on a second list, the note said. As with rival PBMs Express Scripts and CVS Health Corp, OptumRx’s lists of covered drugs, or formularies, cover tens of millions of consumers who receive their healthcare from employers and health insurers. About 39 million Americans suffer from migraine headaches, according to the Migraine Research Foundation, and global migraine drug sales could reach $8.7 billion by 2026, according to analytics firm GlobalData. OptumRx’s decision secures easier access to customers for Lilly’s Emgality at all three of the biggest PBMs - including CVS and Express Scripts - and gives Amgen’s Aimovig a leg up after CVS decided not to include it on its preferred drug list. Teva’s Ajovy only has preferred status at CVS, while Amgen also has it at Express Scripts, part of Cigna Corp.  “We are pleased that all three companies have chosen Emgality to be one of the preferred medications, making it accessible to even more patients suffering from migraine,” Lilly said in an emailed statement. Inclusion on a preferred drugs list by the largest PBMs and health insurers is critically important for sales of new medicines. Increasingly, PBMs are choosing a subset of treatments for their coverage list when there are multiple treatments that are considered equivalent. The three treatments, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year, belong to a class of drugs called CGRP inhibitors that have proven effective in helping to prevent migraines. A Teva spokeswoman said the company is committed to increasing access to Ajovy regardless of formulary decisions and is still offering discounts that allow patients to pay nothing in some cases, regardless of insurance. “Since Ajovy injection launched in September, we have experienced strong demand and steady growth, and we continue discussions with payers,” the spokeswoman said. An Amgen spokeswoman said that the company was pleased with the decision and is committed to ensuring affordable access to its drug. Amgen, which shares Aimovig U.S. revenue with Novartis AG, earlier this week reported fourth-quarter sales of $95 million, nearly doubling Wall Street estimates. The OptumRx decision becomes effective Feb. 1. The OptumRx select formulary relegates Teva’s drug to a lower access level that would typically require a higher out-of-pocket cost, it said. PBMs typically extract discounts from drugmakers in return for favorable placement on their preferred list of covered drugs, such as through a low co-payment, or coinsurance payment, for their members. All three migraine drugs have a list price of $575 a month, or $6,900 a year. Those prices do not reflect the rebates and discounts to PBMs, who design and negotiate benefits for employers and insurers. All three drugmakers are providing a limited duration supply of the new drugs at no cost directly to patients in addition to other assistance programs. Amgen’s Aimovig was first-to-market from the new class. But the rivals from Teva and Lilly followed soon after. The three large PBMs together cover the majority of the more than 150 million Americans who receive benefits through their employers. Their clients, including insurers and corporations, may choose not to follow a PBM’s recommendations on coverage, but that typically would cost more. Amgen shares were off 28 cents at $186.63, Lilly was up nearly 1 percent at $120.90 and Teva shares traded in New York  were down nearly 1 percent at $19.69.

SOLUTION: Exclusive: Top U.S. insurer to cover Amgen, Eli Lilly migraine drugs, exclude Teva.

PROBLEM: Lawmakers approved the government’s bill Thursday with a majority of 459 in favor, 89 against and 105 abstentions. The law means parents who can’t prove their children have been vaccinated for measles by Aug. 1, 2021, will have to pay a fine of up to 2,500 euros ($2,790). Health Minister Jens Spahn has argued that the compulsory vaccination is necessary because of an increase in cases of the highly contagious and potentially deadly disease. Some parents and doctors had opposed the measure Teachers and daycare workers, staff in hospitals and residents of refugee shelters will also have to be vaccinated. Germany has recorded 501 cases of measles so far this year.

SOLUTION:
German lawmakers approve compulsory measles vaccine plan.