Phase III research

Esketamine nasal spray effective for rapid improvement of depressive symptoms

The ketamine-related nasal spray esketamine is effective at relieving the symptoms of treatment-resistant depression, a phase III study has shown.…

Daily isradipine is ineffective at slowing Parkinson’s disease

The blood pressure therapy isradipine does not slow disease progression in people with early-stage Parkinson’s disease, findings presented at the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting have shown.…

Fish oils for cardiovascular disease: a turning point?

The use of fish oils to improve cardiovascular health has been in and out of favour for decades, but positive results from a recent trial of Amarin’s Vascepa have created quite a stir — particularly as they come after a set of negative findings in 2018.…

First-line immunotherapy does not improve survival in metastatic lung cancer

Single or combination first-line immunotherapy does not significantly extend survival compared with chemotherapy in metastatic non small-cell lung carcinoma, trial results have shown.…

RNA interference therapies could be on the cusp of success

This new way of modifying problematic gene expression has had a rocky start — but things are looking up.…

Pain relief: designing better opioids

While opioids are powerful painkillers, they come with dangerous side effects and carry a sometimes fatal risk of addiction. However, new, safer opioids are being developed using a variety of innovative strategies to maximise analgesic properties, while reducing the burden of side effects.…

Glucose-lowering drugs and cardiovascular risk: how recent outcome trials have informed practice

Although large clinical trials with glucose-lowering drugs have consistently shown beneficial reductions in microvascular complications, their effects on macrovascular complications have been controversial. Interpreting these trials is complicated by substantial differences in their design, the…

Innovation in acne treatment is long overdue but the treatment pipeline looks promising

Current treatments for acne are effective but regimens are complex and side effects are common. Better understanding of the pathology of acne is leading to identification of new, safer, treatment targets, and dermatologists and researchers in the field are excited about the pipeline.…

Analysis estimates more than 30 Alzheimer’s drugs will have launched by 2022

Over the next 5 years, 27 phase III and 8 phase II Alzheimer’s drugs may be launched, according to a pipeline analysis carried out by ResearchersAgainstAlzheimer’s…

Combination treatment for hepatitis C approved by FDA

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of the combination treatment Vosevi (sofosbuvir, velpatasvir and voxilaprevir) for the treatment of adults with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes 1–6 without cirrhosis or with mild cirrhosis.…