Category: Pharmaceuticals
Trio awarded Nobel Prize for Medicine for hepatitis C discovery
The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology for Medicine has been awarded to research scientists Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice for first identifying and then enabling novel testing methods concerning the hepatitis C virus. Their pioneering work on the unexplained form of blood-borne hepatitis raises hopes of completely eradicating the virus. However, […]
Anti-flu drug prevents coronavirus better than hydroxychloroquine
Treatment with a high dose of the anti-flu drug favipiravir has been found to have a more potent antiviral effect than hydroxychloroquine in an animal experiment with the novel coronavirus. Virologists at the KU Leuven Rega Institute (KU Leuven) in Belgium have been testing existing drugs in search of a vaccine – they detected hardly […]
Slower cognitive decline in diabetics on certain medication, researchers find
Metformin, a commonly prescribed drug for patients with type-2 diabetes in the US, has been found to lower dementia rates in some older patients. Metformin has been found to confer lifespan-extending effects on several animal studies in the past – a recent study led by researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in NSW, […]
Injectable hydrogel vaccine found to be more effective than liquid vaccine types
Vaccines, obtained from a dead virus, confer resistance to infectious diseases by stimulating the immune system into producing antibodies that work against the actual live virus, should a person become infected with it. However, typical liquid vaccines are active for only a short period within the body, something akin to two days instead of two […]
Experimental drug reverses memory loss in mouse models of Alzheimer’s
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 to counter the degenerative effects of Alzheimer’s.” The Salk researchers focused on an anti-aging drug […]
New pressure treatment sans needles allows for safe, easy insulin administration
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 (NTU) demonstrated how magnets can be used to pinch and apply pressure – called “temporal […]
“Inactive” drug compounds thought to cause unintended psychological effects flagged
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 been designated as inactive based on decades-old animal studies or historical precedents. The scientists have […]
