RSSCategory: Pharmaceuticals

MIT designs double-barrelled needle for easier viscous drugs injections

August 28, 2020

Biologic drugs can sometimes be difficult to inject through a standard needle as they contain highly concentrated, viscous substances. To help with administration and distribution in poorer nations or remote locations, scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), US,have developed […]

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Metabolic byproduct found to boost cancer, accumulates as we get older

August 21, 2020

Metastasising tumours, a process by which cancer cells detach from an initial tumour and form new tumours elsewhere in the body, leaves a metabolic byproduct known as methylmalonic acid (MMA) that appears to accumulate with age and is crucial to […]

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Experimental drug reverses memory loss in mouse models of Alzheimer’s

August 11, 2020

A synthetic version of a naturally-occurring chemical compound has been found to reverse memory loss in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers at US-based Salk Institute said the experimental drug provides “much to consider in the wider development of compounds […]

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New pressure treatment sans needles allows for safe, easy insulin administration

August 10, 2020

Traditional Chinese topical treatments, including the ‘tuina’ therapy where pressure is first applied on skin and muscle before a topical ointment, has inspired researchers in Singapore to use similar techniques for safer insulin delivery. A team at Nanyang Technological University […]

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“Inactive” drug compounds thought to cause unintended psychological effects flagged

July 27, 2020

Some biologically inactive compounds contained in drugs, called excipients, may lead to more unanticipated side effects than previously assumed. Scientists from the San Francisco School of Pharmacy, the University of California (UCSF), US, realised most currently used excipients have only […]

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Israeli clinical trial shows the efficacy of microdosing THC to treat chronic pain

July 13, 2020

Minute doses of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – essentially the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis – have been shown to reduce pain sensation in a recent clinical experiment, without inducing psychoactive side effects. Israeli pharma-tech company Syqe Medical set out to try […]

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Roche’s Tecentriq-chemotherapy combo now approved for treating aggressive type of lung cancer

May 21, 2020

The Singaporean Health Sciences Authority (HAS) has recently approved of global pharmaceutical giant Roche’s new immunotherapy treatment: Tecentriq® (Atezolizumab) will be used as first-line treatment of adults with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC), after reports showed that the cancer […]

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Stomach acid-withstanding peptide pills could be a new type of oral drug

May 14, 2020

Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) have recently developed a novel method of testing and creating peptides that can survive degradation by stomach acids – these could potentially make up oral drugs for chronic inflammatory diseases […]

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New Ebola vaccine effective against all four virus species dangerous to humans

April 24, 2020

Infectious disease scientists at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Centre (CCHMC) in Ohio, US, have recently tested a novel vaccine candidate for Ebola in animals, which seems to be effective against all four species of Ebola that infect humans. The new […]

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International team finds trial drug that blocks early COVID-19 infection

April 13, 2020

A trial drug that appears to block the cellular door SARS-CoV-2 – the virus responsible for COVID-19 – uses to infect its hosts has been identified by a team of researchers from Canada, Spain and Sweden. The drug could very […]

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