Researchers are injecting lactic acid into discs in the spine The theory is that lactic acid plumps up the damaged disc to make it stiffer This means nerves are less likely to get trapped and cause pain Damaged discs are thought to be a major cause of back pain A jab which contains a chemical...
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Drug combination benefits patients with tophaceous gout
The drug lesinurad in combination with febuxostat was better at lowering blood levels of urate than febuxostat alone in a phase III clinical trial of 324 patients with tophaceous gout. Over 12 months, significantly more patients in the combination group achieved target levels of urate than patients in the febuxostat group. Gout occurs when urate...
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An inexpensive first-line treatment for type 2 diabetes may also reduce heart disease in those with type 1 diabetes
An inexpensive first-line treatment for type 2 diabetes may also reduce heart disease in those with type 1 diabetes, according to a new global trial led by the University of Glasgow. The REMOVAL trial’s results, announced today at the American Diabetes Association’s 77th Scientific Sessions conference in San Diego, and published in the journal The Lancet...
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Drug combination improves lung function within 15 days of treatment for children with cystic fibrosis
A combination of two drugs – lumacaftor and ivacaftor – improves lung function in children aged 6-11 with cystic fibrosis within 15 days of treatment, according to a phase 3 trial published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal and presented at the European Cystic Fibrosis Society conference. Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that causes the lungs and digestive...
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Previously unpublished trial data explain effects and side effects of key MS drug
Alemtuzumab is a highly effective drug for multiple sclerosis, approved in more than 60 countries and used by more than 12,000 patients worldwide. However, there is an almost 50 per cent risk of secondary autoimmune diseases, some of which are life-threatening, such as platelet and kidney diseases. Although knowledge about these adverse effects was included...
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Muscle growth finding may assist with cancer treatment
Dr Craig Harrison and Dr Kelly Walton from the Monash BDI. Monash University’s Biomedicine Discovery Institute (BDI) researchers have collaboratively developed a therapeutic approach that dramatically promotes the growth of muscle mass, which could potentially prevent muscle wasting in diseases including muscular dystrophy and cancer. The approach, jointly developed with Baker Heart and Diabetes...
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Drug that creates a ‘real sun-tan’ could prevent cancer
Scientists have developed a drug that mimics sunlight to make the skin tan, with no damaging UV radiation involved. The drug tricks the skin into producing the brown form of the pigment melanin in tests on skin samples and mice. Evidence suggests it will work even on redheads, who normally just burn in the sun....
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Scientists Light the Way for Immune System to Attack Cancer
The science behind harnessing the immune system to fight cancer is complicated, but a University of Rochester Medical Center laboratory discovered a simple, practical way to use light and optics to steer killer immune cells toward tumors. In a study published by the online journal Nature Communications, lead author Minsoo Kim, Ph.D., a UR professor of Microbiology and Immunology and a Wilmot Cancer...
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New cell therapy offers hope of a leukaemia cure: Early trial of pioneering treatment eradicated the disease in 94% of cases
Procedure is administered during three or four hospital outpatient appointments It has shown particular promise for leukaemia and blood cancers A revolutionary cancer treatment that alters the body’s cells so they attack tumours has offered hope of a cure. The procedure is administered during three or four hospital outpatient appointments which last up to four...
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Innovative therapy strategy for pancreatic cancer uses engineered exosomes targeting mutated KRAS gene
Axial CT image with i.v. contrast. Macrocystic adenocarcinoma of the pancreatic head. Genetic manipulation of exosomes, virus-sized particles released by all cells, may offer a new therapeutic approach to treating pancreatic cancer, according to a study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Findings from the study, led by Valerie LeBleu, Ph.D.,...