Placebos: more than meets the eye Often dismissed as fakes, placebos seem to work on the same brain pathways targeted by ‘real’ treatments and involve a complex network of genes.…
Asthma therapies get personal A new crop of biologic drugs promises to usher asthma treatment into the realm of personalised medicine.…
Closing in on Alzheimer’s disease Knowledge about the neuropathology of Alzheimer’s disease has blossomed over the past few decades, leading to a better understanding of the condition and new ways to attack it.…
Attacking cancer: are therapeutic vaccines on the verge of fulfilling their potential? Researchers are investigating whether priming the immune system with therapeutic vaccines can prompt the body’s own defences to spring into action against cancer.…
NICE’s assessment process is stifling pharmaceutical innovation The way new medicines are assessed should be reformed to provide patients with the best treatments and stimulate research and innovation in the UK.…
Nivolumab plus ipilimumab increases progression-free survival for melanoma patients Nivolumab alone or combined with ipilimumab results in longer progression-free survival than ipilimumab alone in patients with previously untreated metastatic melanoma.…
Lumacaftor-ivacaftor combination improves lung function in cystic fibrosis Combination therapy with two drugs that target the most common genetic cause of cystic fibrosis (CF) has been found to improve lung function in patients with the disease.…
Drug development: the journey of a medicine from lab to shelf Before a drug is deemed suitable for patients, it has to go through rigorous testing and cost-effectiveness analyses.…
ResearchKit: a clever tool to gather clinical data New software from Apple makes it easy for iPhone users to contribute to medical research but scientists warn there may be pitfalls.…
Systematic review suggests mortality benefits of new cholesterol lowering biologics Monoclonal antibodies designed to lower cholesterol by inhibiting proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) are effective and associated with few major side effects.…
