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News Articles: Treatments

A tornado damaged a Pfizer pharmaceutical plant in Rocky Mount, N.C., in July. The facility makes almost 25% of Pfizer's sterile injectable medicines used in the U.S.

Chronic drug shortages stress hospitals and patients

Pharmacists struggle to find key medicines and now have to anticipate drug shortages caused by extreme weather and global instability.

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By:
  • Sydney Lupkin
"It's really life-changing," says Victoria Gray, when describing the gene-editing treatment for sickle cell disease that she received as part of a clinical trial in 2019.

FDA advisers see no roadblocks for gene-editing treatment for sickle cell disease

Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration meeting Tuesday paved the way for the first treatment of human disease using the gene-editing technique CRISPR. The agency has a December deadline.

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By:
  • Rob Stein
Dr. Michael Mansour, an infectious disease specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital, is testing an AI-enhanced database he uses to help make diagnoses.

AI could help doctors make better diagnoses

An artificial intelligence upgrade could be coming soon to a computer program called UpToDate that is used by more than 2 million health care professionals to make decisions about patients' care.

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By:
  • Craig LeMoult
Scientists have built an enormous atlas of the human brain that could help them chart a path toward preventing and treating many different neurological disorders.

Scientists built the largest-ever map of the human brain. Here's what they found

A new atlas of the human brain could help explain abilities like language – and vulnerabilities, like Alzheimer's disease.

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By:
  • Jon Hamilton
Secretary-General of the Nobel Assembly Thomas Perlmann speaks in front of a picture of Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman, winners of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm on Monday.

Nobel Prize goes to scientists who made mRNA COVID vaccines possible

Hungarian-born biochemist Katalin Karikó and American immunologist Drew Weissman found that a chemical change to genetic code called mRNA eliminated a problematic side effect when used in vaccines.

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By:
  • Scott Hensley and
  • Rob Stein
New research probes the relationship between certain genes and brain disorders like autism and schizophrenia.

Brain cells, interrupted: How some genes may cause autism, epilepsy and schizophrenia

Researchers have identified 46 genes that can disrupt a process that is critical to early brain development. The finding could help scientists find new treatments for disorders including autism.

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By:
  • Jon Hamilton
Katsuhiko Hayashi, a developmental geneticist at Osaka University, is working on ways to make what he calls "artificial" eggs and sperm from any cell in the human body.

Japanese scientists race to create human eggs and sperm in the lab

Scientists in Japan are leaders in the development of IVG, new technology that could make sperm and eggs from practically any cell in the body. The results could transform human reproduction.

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By:
  • Rob Stein
There's high demand for this fall's COVID shots, which offer protection against circulating variants of omicron. But there's been some distribution hiccups.

This year's COVID vaccine rollout is off to a bumpy start, despite high demand

Some people are finding pharmacies still don't have supply of the shots, and others are having insurance coverage troubles. Here's what's going on.

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By:
  • Yuki Noguchi and
  • Carmel Wroth
Anti-abortion demonstrators gather outside Planned Parenthood's Water Street Health Center in Milwaukee on Monday, Sept. 2023. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin began offering abortions at the clinic that day after not doing so for more than a year.<em> </em>

Abortions resume in Wisconsin after 15 months of legal uncertainty

After Roe v. Wade was overturned, a law still on the books from 1849 left the legality of abortions in dispute in the state. This week, Planned Parenthood resumes services.

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By:
  • Sarah Lehr and
  • Margaret Faust
Researchers looking for root causes of long COVID work in the autopsy suite inside the Clinical Center at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.

Unraveling long COVID: Here's what scientists who study the illness want to find out

At a recent medical gathering, researchers presented their latest hypotheses about what causes – and what could treat – the lingering disease.

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By:
  • Will Stone
A large study of an experimental Alzheimer's drug made by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly & Co. appears to slow worsening of the degenerative brain disease.

An experimental Alzheimer's drug outperforms one just approved by the FDA

In a large study, the experimental drug donanemab slowed the progression of Alzheimer's by about 35%. That's slightly better than the drug Leqembi, which was fully approved by the FDA on July 6.

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By:
  • Jon Hamilton
Conception's chief scientific officer, Pablo Hurtado, examines very early primordial germ cells under a microscope in a company lab in Berkeley, California.

Startup aims to make lab-grown human eggs, transforming options for creating families

New companies are working to commercialize in vitro gametogenesis, or IVG, a technology that could make human eggs and sperm in the lab from any cell in the body.

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By:
  • Rob Stein
Scientists have shown that the antibiotic doxycycline can ward off illnesses like chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis. It's a prevention tool called doxy-PEP.

An old drug offers a new way to stop STIs

Taken after sex, the antibiotic doxycycline can ward off some sexually transmitted illnesses. Doctors are already prescribing it and the CDC is expected to share guidance soon for how best to use it.

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By:
  • Will Stone
Calliope Holingue is researching the microbiome among kids with autism. She's part of a growing field of research seeking to understand the gut-brain axis.

Studying the link between the gut and mental health is personal for this scientist

Calliope Holingue researches how the microbiome and mind affect each other. She's part of a growing field, exploring how that connection could ultimately improve treatments for mental conditions.

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By:
  • Joanne Silberner
In patients with Alzheimer's disease, a substance called beta-amyloid can form toxic clumps in between neurons. Drugs like lecanemab are designed to remove amyloid-beta from the brain.

An Alzheimer's drug is on the way, but getting it may still be tough. Here's why

The Food and Drug Administration is expected to grant full approval to the Alzheimer's drug lecanemab by July 6. But access to the drug may still be limited.

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By:
  • Jon Hamilton