Researchers from McMaster University have developed what they are calling “super-human red blood cells.” The technique they’ve developed loads normal red blood cells with synthetic drug molecules to create a powerful hybrid cell designed to deliver drugs to targeted locations in the body. read more
Medicine, soft robotics and wearable electronics are just a few of the fields that could benefit from a new hydrogel that’s applied to the body. The transparent material can sense when it’s being touched, bent, heated, or otherwise manipulated.
Although it’s crucial that people get vaccinated against tuberculosis (TB), the vaccine isn’t always very effective – at least, not when injected through the skin. New research, however, shows that it works much better when delivered directly into a vein. read more
A newly published study has described the successful results in mice of a novel vaccine designed to prevent neurodegeneration associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers suggest this “dementia vaccine” is now ready for human trials, and if successful could become the “breakthrough of the next decade.” read more
New results have been published from one of the first placebo-controlled clinical trials investigating the effects of microdosing Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD). This Phase 1 trial is the first step in testing whether these kinds of psychedelic microdose methods could be useful as a therapeutic approach for treating Alzheimer’s disease, and while the early data doesn’t identify significant cognitive benefits in microdosing, it certainly demonstrates the method is safe enough to proceed to larger efficacy trials. read more
The immune system is already our best defense against cancer, but sometimes it needs help. After all, cancer has a knack for deceiving it and hiding from immune cells, giving itself time to grow and spread. Now, researchers at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Australia have identified one way it does so, and found a method to counter it in mouse tests. read more
Two compelling new studies are building on a hypothesis suggesting age-related dementia is caused by a leaky blood-brain barrier, triggering neuro-inflammation and, ultimately, brain cell damage. The research reveals a novel anti-inflammatory drug can reverse brain aging in senile mice, but experts suggest the studies are interesting but not particularly applicable to human cases of dementia. read more
As we stare down the barrel of the futuristic-sounding year 2020, it’s a time for reflection on the past decade. The world has seen some pretty major scientific achievements in the last 10 years, as discoveries and developments decades in the making were finally realized. New Atlas rounds up five of the most ground-breaking, history-making milestones of the 2010s. read more
Isn’t it funny (not funny ha ha) that our government is the only one who is never to blame for price increases or shortages of any kind. It’s always Big Oil, the military industrial complex, etc. Or in this case, evil Big Pharma. We can’t name one industry that doesn’t get blamed for these occurrences (except of course, Big Education), yet the
government, with its penchant for artificially picking winners and losers, escapes all scrutiny. We’re about to see it happen again. And when it has the opposite effect, we’ll all be instructed to once again blame “Big Pharma.”
In the hopes of lowering the cost of prescription drugs for Americans, the Trump Administration announced plans in late July to draft a proposal for the importation and sale of prescription drugs from Canada. The announcement was overshadowed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s drug pricing bill and the bipartisan package before the Senate in September—but is a cause for concern, nonetheless. A dozen states, Congress—even the Trump Administration, despite initial opposition—are now considering such legislation.
If “buy-Canadian” doesn’t sound like a policy consistent with Trump’s platform of putting Americans first, that’s because it isn’t. Importing drugs from Canada is an ineffectual and counterproductive policy. President Trump had it right the first time. The prohibitive drug prices that Americans deal with are not solely caused by pharmaceutical companies; they are primarily the product of a failure of government policy.
Instead of artificial fixes, the Trump Administration should directly address the global freeloading and regulatory glut that’s costing Americans—both in dollars and lives. read more
