STAT
Fine-tuning CAR-T cancer therapy could eliminate serious side effects, study says
A novel approach to CAR-T cancer therapy promises to upend what has become a truism in medicine: that the treatment’s dramatic effect ...
‘Biotech fantasy’? This startup wants to kill cancer by targeting RNA with new generation of pills
Arrakis Therapeutics is named for the desert planet in the legendary “Dune” series of science-fiction novels. It’s an apt name because ...
Families plagued by inherited diseases push back against ban on gene-edited embryos
In 2012, scientists showed that CRISPR, an ancient bacterial immune system, can edit DNA. ... Barely three years after, leaders in ...
Viewpoint: He Jiankui’s CRISPR babies experiment was ‘even worse than I first thought’
When He Jiankui announced the birth of twin girls whose DNA he had modified when they were embryos using the CRISPR ...
Making the case for lifting the US ban on 3-parent babies
A Greek woman with a history of multiple in vitro fertilization failures gave birth to a healthy baby with DNA ...
Viewpoint: Our desperate need for new antibiotics won’t be met without government incentives
As the number of infections resistant to antimicrobial drugs continues to rise around the world, and with it their huge ...
US researcher: ‘3-parent’ embryos ready to implant if Congress lifts ban on controversial treatment
Researchers at Columbia University in New York have created embryos containing genetic material from three people and are ready to ...
Electrical brain zaps show promise at improving memory in older adults
Shooting electrical current into the brain for just 25 minutes reversed the decline in working memory that comes with aging, ...
Can your sex partner alter your microbiome, immune system?
People’s sexual partners could impact both their gut microbiome and their immune system, according to a new study from the University of ...
Why esketamine will force doctors to rethink office visits for depressed patients
The Food and Drug Administration approved esketamine (Spravato) for treatment-resistant depression to be administered under physician supervision. It’s a derivative of ...
‘Wildly popular’ and unproven probiotics may interfere with some treatments
Probiotics are wildly popular. After all, the microbial cocktails are available over the counter and have been shown to be ...
5 things to consider with direct-to-consumer health products
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) versions of teeth alignment kits, genetic tests, hearing aids, heart-rhythm monitors, neurostimulation devices, and mental health tools are ...
Patients react after failure of promising Alzheimer drug trial: ‘Like the rug was pulled out from under us’
When Biogen and its partner Eisai announced that they were stopping two phase 3 trials of the Alzheimer’s treatment aducanumab because the ...
This woman feels almost no pain. Could her genes lead to new treatment for chronic sufferers?
Doctors in Scotland were amazed when a 66-year-old woman underwent what is normally a very painful operation on her hand ...
Viewpoint: Blood tests for cancer would be ‘less invasive, less expensive, less traumatic’
Eleven years ago, I was shocked to be diagnosed with advanced lymphoma. To offer an informed second opinion, an oncologist ...
Gene therapy for beta-thalassemia blood disorder one step closer to European approval
The first gene therapy to treat a rare blood disorder is one step closer to approval [March 29] following a ...
Viewpoint: Precision medicine plagued by an ’embarrassing’ human reference genome
The human reference genome, largely completed in 2001, has achieved near-mythic status. It is “the book of life,” the “operating ...
Viewpoint: We need to speed up biosimilar drug approval process
Generic versions of brand-name small-molecule drugs saved Americans more than $1 trillion between 1999 and 2010. Biosimilars now have the potential ...
Why recent measles outbreaks may represent a ‘new normal’
Back near the start of this century, before the full damage of Andrew Wakefield’s debunked study linking measles vaccine and ...
China revives discredited ‘malarial therapy’ as cancer treatment
American surgeon Henry Heimlich is best known for inventing a way to rescue choking victims, but a quarter-century ago, he was vilified ...
‘Game-changing’ drug first ever postpartum depression medication approved by FDA
The Food and Drug Administration on [March 19] approved brexanolone, the first drug specifically targeted to treat postpartum depression — ...
Promising Alzheimer’s drug trial halted
Alzheimer’s disease has beaten back another effort to tame it. Biogen and its Japanese pharma partner Eisai said [March 21] ...
Is it OK to take sperm from the dead?
[A] New York judge earlier this month ordered a medical center to save the sperm of Peter Zhu, a 21-year-old cadet ...
Viewpoint: Genetic research can’t fulfill its potential without greater diversity in study populations
Genetic differences exist between people of different ancestries. That means genetic studies that focus on just a handful of populations ...
Tetanus infection offers ‘gut-wrenching’ warning about dangers of not vaccinating children
A 6-year-old boy from Oregon who had never received a single vaccine got a cut on his forehead while playing ...
Amidst measles outbreaks, ‘massive’ new study proves again that vaccines don’t cause autism
A massive new study from Denmark found no association between being vaccinated against measles, mumps, and rubella and developing autism. In science ...
US approves immunotherapy for breast cancer for first time
Roche’s cancer immunotherapy Tecentriq (atezolizumab), a PD-L1 inhibitor, scored its fifth Food and Drug Administration approval on [March 8], for advanced triple-negative ...
How ‘smart toilets’ and other technologies could help detect cancer before it’s too late
I believe we should be more aggressively pursuing precision health: ways to prevent disease and, when that isn’t possible, intercept and ...
