Pharmaceuticals

A drug recently approved to prevent migraine may start working right away, according to a new study. The study looked at the drug atogepant, which is a calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonist taken by mouth.

Researchers have created a platform, called SIMPL2, that revolutionizes the study of protein-protein interactions by simplifying detection while improving measurement accuracy. While protein-protein interactions have previously been considered 'undruggable' using small molecules, the platform addresses this challenge by facilitating the measurement of these interactions -- improving our understanding of the types of molecules needed to control them.

A breakthrough in understanding how a single-cell parasite makes ergosterol (its version of cholesterol) could lead to more effective drugs for human leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease that afflicts about 1 million people and kills about 30,000 people around the world every year.

A team of chemists has unveiled a novel method to simplify the synthesis of piperidines, a key structural component in many pharmaceuticals. The study combines biocatalytic carbon-hydrogen oxidation and radical cross-coupling, offering a streamlined and cost-effective approach to create complex, three-dimensional molecules. This innovation could help accelerate drug discovery and enhance the efficiency of medicinal chemistry.

Phase I clinical trial of a drug was successfully completed, with promise to treat Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. The compound, named VU319, is the first end-to-end drug discovery effort related to memory loss, starting from the earliest basic science research through human clinical trials.

Until now, scientists have been unable to determine how metformin, a Type 2 diabetes medication that lowers blood sugar, works. A study provided direct evidence in mice that it reversibly cuts the cell's energy supply by interfering with mitochondria to lower glucose levels.

A team of researchers has created an innovative drug delivery system with outstanding potential to improve drug development.

Researchers have used a chemical compound to light up treatment-resistant cancers on imaging scans, in a breakthrough that could help medical professionals better target and treat cancer.

A novel drug holds promise for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a rare genetic disorder that causes severe muscle degeneration. Researchers have discovered that an experimental compound called K884 can boost the natural repair abilities of muscle stem cells. Current treatments can slow muscle damage, but don't address the root problem.

New research highlights the possibility of screening people with type 2 diabetes for liver damage at the same time as they undergo screening for eye disease.

Scientists have revealed the spread of a highly drug-resistant cholera strain.

Radiation is one of the most effective ways to kill a tumor. But these therapies are indiscriminate, and they can damage healthy tissues.

Researchers have unraveled how immune cells called microglia can transform and drive harmful processes like neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's disease. The study also integrates drug databases with real-world patient data to identify FDA-approved drugs that may be repurposed to target disease-associated microglia in Alzheimer's disease without affecting the healthy type.

A study analyzed data from nearly 500,000 Canadian patients who lived in nursing homes across Canada between 2000 and 2022. It found that residents who were given antipsychotic medications showed a significant worsening of their behaviors. In fact, nearly 68 per cent of residents who used antipsychotics had more problems with their behavior during follow-up checks.

A new study has outlined a new framework that researchers say would improve predictive power of genetics to determine how well a patient would respond to commonly prescribed medications as well as the severity of any side effects.

Treatment for more advanced and difficult-to-treat head and neck cancers can be improved with the addition of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), the same ingredient used in children's glue. Researchers found that combining PVA with a boron-containing compound, D-BPA, improved the effects of a type of radiation therapy for cancer, compared to currently clinically used drugs. The PVA made the drug more selective of tumor cells and prolonged drug retention, helping to spare healthy cells from unnecessary radiation damage.

Bacteria modify their ribosomes when exposed to widely used antibiotics, according to new research. The modified ribosomes have changes specifically in the regions where antibiotics latch on to and halt protein production. The study found this made the bacteria more resistant to the drugs. The subtle changes might be enough to alter the binding site of drug targets and constitute a possible new mechanism of antibiotic resistance.

Researchers analyzed the genomes of hundreds of malaria parasites to determine which genetic variants are most likely to confer drug resistance.

Tirzepatide, a new injectable weight-loss drug, reduced the risk of diabetes in patients with obesity and prediabetes by more than 90% over a three-year period, compared with placebo, according to the results of a new study.

Tamoxifen is a common and important treatment to prevent breast cancer from recurring. A new study shows that variation in a patient's gut microbiome can impact how effective the treatment is.

Researchers explore how established agricultural pest management strategies could be adapted to address cancer therapy. The pioneering method opens new possibilities for controlling drug resistance and improving patient survival.

Drug discovery researchers have found that a natural fat molecule called 'lipoxin A4' (LXA4) could significantly reduce inflammation and improve function for diabetic hearts.

In a groundbreaking new study scientists have revealed that the widely prescribed Parkinson's disease drug entacapone significantly disrupts the human gut microbiome by inducing iron deficiency. The study, provides new insights into the often-overlooked impact of human-targeted drugs on the microbial communities that play a critical role in human health.

Weight-loss and diabetes drug tirzepatide can reduce the risk of death or worsening heart failure for patients with obesity and heart failure with preserved pump function, new research reveals.

Researchers have led a clinical trial of a drug that mimics the effects of alcohol in more than 100 patients with laryngeal dystonia, a neurological condition that causes involuntary muscle spasms in the larynx and can have debilitating impacts on a person's voice. The trial was inspired by patient reports that their symptoms improved after consuming alcoholic beverages.

Inspired by the jets of water that squids use to propel themselves through the ocean, a team developed an ingestible capsule that releases a burst of drugs directly into the lining of the stomach or other organs of the digestive tract.

Researchers shrink gastrointestinal tumors in mice using a yeast probiotic to deliver immunotherapy to the gut, offering a potentially novel strategy to target hard-to-reach gut cancers.

Researchers found a molecule that can both help the intestines to heal after damage and suppress tumour growth in colorectal cancer. The discovery could lead to new treatments for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and cancer.

Common cardiovascular drugs are linked to a lower risk of dementia in older age, according to a new study.

A research article shows that Eradivir's patent-pending antiviral therapeutic called EV25 reduces lung viral loads of advanced-stage influenza in preclinical studies quicker and more effectively than currently available therapies.

A promising daily tablet is effective at increasing height and improving proportional limb growth in children with achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism, according to a new study. And the findings could spare these children from needing to have a daily injection to boost growth.

Fampridine is currently used to improve walking ability in multiple sclerosis. A new study shows that it could also help individuals with reduced working memory, as seen in mental health conditions like schizophrenia or depression.

To stem the surging antibiotic resistance public health crisis, scientists seek solutions inside the mechanics of bacterial infection. A new study has found a vulnerability related to magnesium availability. This limitation potentially could be exploited to stop the spread of antibiotic resistance.

Children born to mothers who take antiseizure medications to manage seizures and psychiatric conditions during pregnancy may face increased risks of neurodevelopmental conditions, according to new research.

Researchers have identified a potential treatment for Sandhoff and Tay-Sachs diseases -- two rare, often fatal lysosomal storage disorders that cause progressive damage to nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. After years of investigating the diseases' underlying mechanisms, the research team has identified an existing FDA-approved drug that could significantly improve quality of life for affected patients and their families.

A new drug strategy that regulates the tumor immune microenvironment may transform a tumor that resists immunotherapy into a susceptible one, according to a new study.

A new study has found highly vulnerable weakness in drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis, offering a new way to kill them.

A new study uncovers vulnerabilities in drug-resistant TB, offering hope for improved treatments.

A team of scientists has used a novel approach to identify protein degraders that target Pin1, a protein involved in pancreatic cancer development.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) loaded with customizable anti-cancer antisense oligonucleotides suppressed cancer growth.

All patients who have had a heart attack are typically treated using beta blockers. According to a recent study, this drug is unlikely to be needed for those heart patients who have a normal pumping ability. Now a sub-study shows that there is also a risk that these patients will become depressed by the treatment.

Researchers have developed a new form of precision medicine, an antibody, with the potential to treat several types of cancer. Researchers have managed to combine three different functions in the antibody, which together strongly amplify the effect of T cells on the cancer tumor.

A team has developed a large-scale drug screening technique that can track target molecule behavior within cells. The researchers verified their technique by testing the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a known target for cancer drugs. Their drug screening resulted in the identification of the known drugs, as well as others that were not previously known to affect EGFR. This new method can potentially help develop new drugs and repurpose existing drugs.

A drug commonly used to treat glaucoma has been shown in zebrafish and mice to protect against the build-up in the brain of the protein tau, which causes various forms of dementia and is implicated in Alzheimer's disease.

Reports of drug-related supply-chain issues were 40 percent less likely to result in drug shortages in Canada versus the United States, according to a new study.

The amount of money people pay out-of-pocket for branded drugs to treat neurological diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's disease continues to rise, especially for MS drugs, according to a new study. The study found that average out-of-pocket costs for drugs for MS increased by 217% over a nine-year period.

An international research team has investigated how nanoplastic particles deposited in the body affect the effectiveness of antibiotics. The study showed that the plastic particles not only impair the effect of the drugs, but could also promote the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The advanced drug testing system screens multiple potential therapies simultaneously in beating heart cells.

Researchers have discovered a way that ovarian cancer tumors manipulate their environment to resist immunotherapy and identified a drug target that could overcome that resistance. The study used a cutting-edge spatial genomics technology and preclinical animal models, with tumor specimens from ovarian cancer patients further validating the findings. They found that ovarian cancer cells produce a molecule called Interleukin-4 (IL-4), which is typically associated with asthma and the skin condition eczema, also known as atopic dermatitis. The study went on to find that the cancer cells used IL-4 to create a protective environment that kept away killer immune cells, making the tumors resistant to immunotherapy. A drug, dupilumab, which blocks IL-4's activity, has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is already used to treat asthma and eczema. This new study suggests dupilumab or similar drugs could be repurposed to enhance immunotherapy for ovarian cancer.

A newly described stage of a lymph node-like structure seen in liver tumors after presurgical immunotherapy may be vital to successfully treating patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, according to a new study.

Scientists say mifepristone, used in cancer and reproductive care, could pave the way for anti-aging treatments.

Scientists have designed a publicly-available software and web database to break down barriers to identifying key protein-protein interactions to treat with medication. The computational tool is called PIONEER (Protein-protein InteractiOn iNtErfacE pRediction). Researchers demonstrated PIONEER's utility by identifying potential drug targets for dozens of cancers and other complex diseases.

Researchers have developed a new technology that can hold an entire course of antibiotics in one tiny dose and deliver on demand just the right amount of medication that a particular patient needs to fight an infection.

Using a few zaps of electricity to the skin, researchers can stop bacterial infections without using any drugs. For the first time, researchers designed a skin patch that uses imperceptible electric currents to control microbes.

Chemists have synthesized so-called heteroatom-substituted cage-like 3D molecules. The innovative structures are created by precisely inserting a triatomic unit into the strained ring of a reaction partner. They could help address key challenges in drug design by serving as more stable alternatives to traditional, flat, aromatic rings.

People with opioid use disorder in British Columbia who received methadone had a 37- to 40-percent lower rate of treatment discontinuation compared with those who received buprenorphine/naloxone. The new research evaluated the risk of treatment discontinuation and mortality in people prescribed opioid agonist treatment (OAT) over a 10-year period.

Research provides evidence that a drug used to slow the progression of the disease ALS shows promise in suppressing the self-renewing cancerous stem cells that challenge the present standards of care for these lethal grade 4 brain tumours.

A group of scientists say it's time to think differently about how to define and treat diseases such as Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis.

For people with ischemic stroke, treatment with the clot-busting drug tenecteplase is associated with a slightly higher likelihood of an excellent recovery and reduced disability three months later than the drug alteplase, according to a meta-analysis. Researchers found that the likelihood of good recovery was similar between the two treatments.

Innovative application of an existing drug offers promising alternative treatment to traditional chemotherapy for patients with appendix cancer.