Drugs

New data submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration suggests Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine is stable for two weeks in freezers around -15 °C (5 °F), allowing for significantly more flexibility in shipping and storage methods.

A new, small open-label trial is the first to test MDMA therapy as a treatment for addiction and the results suggest it is safe, well-tolerated and significantly more effective than any current treatment for alcoholism.

A broad reform bill has been proposed in California that would see the possession and use of a number of psychedelic drugs decriminalized. The bill proposes to expunge all psychedelic-related criminal convictions and allow “social sharing” of the drugs.

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.

A novel trial is set to investigate the popular yet still deeply unproven practice of microdosing psychedelics, and promises to be the first exploration of naturalistic psilocybin microdosing in a lab-setting using a cutting-edge neuroimaging technique.

A novel analytical technique has revealed undiscovered compounds in an ancient Maya drug container previously thought to only be used for tobacco. The findings offer the first clear evidence that the Maya mixed tobacco with other plant materials.

Although yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly has announced promising results from one of its Phase 2 human trials testing an experimental Alzheimer’s disease drug designed to slow cognitive decline.

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.

Scientists have genetically modified a tomato to produce L-DOPA, a drug used to treat Parkinson’s disease. The researchers say the innovation could be an easier way to produce the medicine in regions where access to the synthesized drug is restricted.

For the first time in decades, a pilot study has explored the effects of MDMA therapy in couples within the framework of a robust clinical trial. Following on from ongoing research into MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD, the results are promising.