News • New method
Time-released drug delivery could make vaccines last for months
Missing crucial doses of medicines and vaccines could become a thing of the past thanks to Rice University bioengineers’ technology for making time-released drugs.
Medication
News • The "Rx" factor
GP burnout linked to higher opioid and antibiotic prescribing
When in doubt, write a prescription? New research links burnout in GPs to higher antibiotic and strong opioid prescribing, especially in more deprived areas of the North of England.
News • Seniors’ use of antibiotics halved
Study shows benefits of antibiotic stewardship in UTI management
An international study has shown how a decision tool for health professionals has proved capable of halving the use of antibiotics against urinary tract infections while maintaining patient safety.
Article • Inks and polymers
3D printed pharmaceuticals for personalized therapies
60 percent of all administered drugs do not have the desired therapeutic effect. Even worse: in Germany alone about 60,000 deaths per year are caused by medication. With these shocking statistics Professor Dr Christian Franken started his presentation on “Pills from the 3D printer” at last year’s Medica in Düsseldorf. He hopes that his vision of personalized medication based on 2D and 3D…
News • A chatbot to replace GPs?
ChatGPT does a surprisingly solid job at prescribing the right meds, but...
Researchers from the University of Liverpool have tested whether the AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT could be used to make decisions about prescribing patients with antibiotics.
News • Personalised medicine
DNA-matching medication reduces side effects by 30%
According to an international group of researchers led by Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC), patients experience 30% fewer serious side effects when medication doses are tailored to their DNA.
News • Sustainability assessment
EU laws need to look at the environmental impact of pharmaceuticals, study finds
Current EU regulation does not adequately consider the environmental emissions of pharmaceuticals in global manufacturing supply chains, a recent study from Finland concludes.
News • A winning combination
‘Cocktail’ vaccines to offer protection against future Covid-19 variants
Covid-19 vaccinations that combine two or more distinct variants of SARS-CoV-2 could offer protection against current and future ‘variants of concern’, say scientists from UK and Austria.
News • Study on meth, cannabis, cocaine and opiate use
Illicit drugs linked with atrial fibrillation
Methamphetamines, cocaine, opiates, and cannabis are associated with an increased likelihood of developing atrial fibrillation, a newly-published 11-year study shows.
News • Coronavirus countermeasures
Long Covid: referral drop suggests vaccine effectiveness
Referrals to Cambridge’s long Covid clinic fell dramatically in the period August 2021 to June 2022, which researchers say is likely due to the successful rollout of the vaccine.
News • Resistance building prevention
New test to reduce antibiotics in primary care
Antibiotic prescribing in primary care could be monitored using health insurance data. And reduced with a simple test.
News • Drug delivery research
'Tunneling' capsule to enable oral insulin intake
A newly developed capsule that tunnels through mucus in the GI tract could be used to orally administer large protein drugs such as insulin.
News • Blood-brain barrier simulation
Artificial brain vessels advance drug testing
German researchers present a novel method for testing chemical agents that could help in the development of drugs against neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.
News • Extended treatment
New trial doubles down on antibiotics against life threatening infections
Hospital patients who develop infections where 10% of sufferers die will be offered double the traditional course of antibiotics in a new trial.
News • Future lifesavers
Tiny robots are next step to precisely targeted drug delivery
A Stanford mechanical engineer creates multifunctional wireless robots to maximize health outcomes and minimize invasiveness of procedures.
News • Eye treatment
Self-plugging microneedle for drug delivery
Reseachers have developed a novel microneedle for injecting therapeutics into the eyes, potentially solving one of the major challenges of treating eye diseases.
News • Hypoxia
Stopping lung damage before it turns deadly
Scientists at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology discover new drug target for severe asthma and fibrosis.
News • Computational disease models
Digital twins aid patient treatment
Researchers have developed advanced computer models, or “digital twins”, of diseases, with the goal of improving diagnosis and treatment.
Article • Drug dose optimisation
Antibiotics: no more ‘dosing in the dark’
Finding the right antibiotic dose is akin to a Goldilocks problem: give too little, and the infection will persist; too much, and side-effects will override the benefits of the therapy. To get it “just right”, Prof Dr Birgit Koch talks about dosing optimisation in the clinical setting.
News • Covid-19 drug monitoring
Smart sensor to evaluate vaccine safety
A new study enables developers to determine vaccine safety via smart sensors that measure objective physiological parameters. This could end the reliance on subjective reports of study participants.
News • Promising approach
‘Drug factory’ implants eliminate ovarian, colorectal cancer in mice
Bioengineers have shown they can eradicate advanced-stage ovarian and colorectal cancer in mice in as little as six days with a treatment that could be ready for human clinical trials later this year.
News • Medication chemistry
Stabilising drugs with 'heavy' hydrogen
A new method involving deuterium can be used to stabilise compounds against degradation. This discovery could result in new drugs that can be taken in lower doses or less frequently.
News • Covid-19 protection
Needle-free coronavirus vaccine enters clinical trial
Safety trials are underway for a Cambridge-led vaccine that could be used as a booster targeting Covid-19 virus variants and relatives that threaten future coronavirus pandemics.
News • Additive manufacturing
3D printed medication activated by smartphone screen
The light from a smartphone screen can be used to print medications, in a new 3D printing technique developed by UCL researchers.
News • Drug delivery research
Nanoparticles to help cross the blood-brain barrier
Treating diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s is a challenge because drugs have to be able to cross the blood–brain barrier. As a result, the doses administered must be high and only a small fraction reaches the brain, which can lead to significant systemic side effects.
