Drug

Scientists at Cambridge have demonstrated a new method to fight leukemia, by targeting overactive enzymes that can lead to the disease. If the results of mice tests carry across to humans, it could be the first of a new class of cancer drugs.

Scientists at Purdue University and Scripps have identified a natural compound from a common shrub that could help fight cancer. The compound is the first found to inhibit a cancer protein that was previously considered “undruggable.”

For millions of patients with diabetes, daily insulin injections are a necessary nuisance. A once-a-week shot might be more palatable, and new results from phase 2 clinical trials suggest just such a drug is safe and effective.

An oral pill would be much easier for diabetics than daily insulin injections. An experimental new method for packing insulin into capsules helps it survive the trip through the stomach to the bloodstream, and releases its payload only when needed.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are an urgent public health threat. A new single-dose drug has been developed that works on a different mechanism to most antibiotics, and tests in mice show that it can be used to treat multi-drug-resistant gonorrhea.

Antibiotic-resistant “superbugs" pose a serious public health threat. New antibiotics are needed to turn the tide, but developing them takes time. Now IBM Research has set AI on the task, producing two promising new drug candidates very quickly.

HIV can currently be managed with a lifelong daily drug regimen, but unfortunately the infection can’t be eliminated entirely. Now researchers may have found a way to trip a cellular “alarm” to alert the immune system to clear out infected cells.

Stanford scientists have developed a new hydrogel with a Velcro-like molecular structure, letting it last longer at body temperature. The hope is that it could be injected into a patient to deliver drugs over weeks or months as it slowly dissolves.

One common symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS) is vision impairment, and it can progress to blindness in some cases. Now, researchers at the University of California, Riverside report a drug that was able to reverse that vision loss in mice.

Bacteria are fast evolving resistance to antibiotics, meaning our best drugs could soon stop working entirely. Now researchers have found a way to bypass drug resistance in these so-called superbugs – by distracting them with predatory viruses.

Killing cancer cells isn’t too hard – the tricky part is doing so without harming healthy cells. Now researchers have developed nanoparticles that selectively release drugs inside tumors, while keeping them safely locked away when in healthy cells.

Cancer cells are very energy-hungry, which could be a potential weakness. Now, researchers have developed an experimental drug that blocks mitochondrial metabolism, starving cancer cells of energy while leaving healthy cells relatively unscathed.