Breaking WORLD PHARMA NEWS

NHS urged to offer single pill to all over-50s to prevent heart attacks and strokes

The NHS could prevent thousands more heart attacks and strokes every year by offering everyone in the UK aged 50 and over a single "polypill" combining a statin and three blood pressure lowering drugs, according to academics from UCL.

In an opinion piece for The BMJ, the authors argued that a polypill programme could be a "flagship strategy" in Labour's commitment to preventing disease rather than treating sickness.

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Naturally occurring molecule rivals Ozempic in weight loss, sidesteps side effects

A naturally occurring molecule identified by Stanford Medicine researchers appears similar to semaglutide - also known as Ozempic - in suppressing appetite and reducing body weight. Notably, testing in animals also showed that it worked without some of the drug's side effects such as nausea, constipation and significant loss of muscle mass.

The newly discovered molecule, BRP, acts through a separate but similar metabolic pathway and activates different neurons in the brain - seemingly offering a more targeted approach to body weight reduction.

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Future drugs may snap supply chain fueling breast cancer

Cancer cells have an insatiable appetite for energy as they multiply more rapidly than normal cells. Greedy cancer cells hijack various cellular functions to find and exploit energy and other resources, including a group of enzymes that help normal cells maintain a balance of energy.

These enzymes, called creatine kinases (CK), allow cells to transport energy produced at the mitochondria to where it is needed throughout the cell.

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Researchers reveal key mechanism behind bacterial cancer therapy

A research team led by Prof. LIU Chenli from the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Prof. XIAO Yichuan from the Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health of CAS elucidated the mechanism behind bacterial cancer therapy using a genetically engineered bacterial strain.

Exploring the use of antitumor bacteria in cancer therapy dates back to the 1860s.

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Common malaria drug repurposed to fight cancer

Can a drug that's used to treat malaria be repurposed to fight cancer? Researchers at The University of Texas at El Paso have secured a patent for the anti-malarial drug pyronaridine to do just that. Pyronaridine has been used to treat the mosquito-borne infectious disease for over 30 years.

The discovery is the result of a serendipitous encounter at UTEP.

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Switching between defense and attack - immune cells with dual role

LMU researchers have shown that a particular type of immune cell acts more flexibly than previously thought - with potential for new therapeutic approaches.

As part of the innate immune system, dendritic cells are in the body's first line of defense against infections. They detect pathogens and coordinate the immune response.

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GSK completes acquisition of IDRx, Inc.

GSK plc (LSE/NYSE: GSK) announced that it has completed the acquisition of IDRx, Inc. (IDRx), a Boston-based, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing precision therapeutics for the treatment of gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST).

As announced previously(1), the acquisition includes lead molecule IDRX-42, an investigational, highly selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) that is designed to improve outcomes for patients with GIST.

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Designing self-destructing bacteria to make effective tuberculosis vaccines

Working toward more effective tuberculosis (TB) vaccines, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have developed two strains of mycobacteria with "kill switches" that can be triggered to stop the bacteria after they activate an immune response. Two preclinical studies, published, Jan. 10 in Nature Microbiology, tackle the challenge of engineering bacteria that are safe for use in controlled human infection trials or as better vaccines.

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New cancer vaccine method boosts potency and scope

Vaccines to treat cancers have been around since 2010, the first being approved for prostate cancer, and another in 2015 for melanoma. Since then, many therapeutic - as opposed to preventive - cancer vaccines have been in development, but none approved. One hurdle is the difficulty in finding antigens in tumors that look foreign enough to trigger an immune response.

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Antidepressants linked to faster cognitive decline in dementia

New research suggests that antidepressants can accelerate cognitive decline in people with dementia. At the same time, some drugs appear to be less harmful than others, which can help doctors make better treatment decisions, according to the study published in BMC Medicine.

Antidepressants are often used to relieve symptoms such as anxiety, depression, aggressiveness, and sleep disturbances in dementia sufferers.

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