Obesity Leading to Preventable, Premature Death Obesity prevalence is the primary cause of metabolic issues that lead to preventable and premature death. The rate of obesity has increased since 2017 from 30.5% to 41.9%. Additionally, the rates of severe obesity have almost doubled from 4.7% to 9.2%, with an annual medical cost of approximately 173 […]
Psychedelics Show Promise for Mental Health Disorders Until recently, psychedelics, specifically psilocin from mushrooms and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), were limited to recreational use with no medicinal benefit. Currently, psychedelics are showing promise in clinical trials as therapeutic strategies for mental health disorders. While scientists understand the serotonergic modulation these drugs elicit in the brain […]
The US FDA no longer requires animal testing for drug approval. For over 80 years, the FDA has required extensive animal testing to approve drugs before being brought to the public market. In late December 2022, Joe Biden signed into law the Consolidated Appropriation Act that eliminated the need for animal testing before a drug […]
New Method for Insulin Delivery Using Stem Cells There are many types of diabetes mellitus including juvenile-onset diabetes (type 1), adult-onset diabetes (type 2), and diabetes during pregnancy (gestational diabetes). The underlying mechanism of all diabetes is dysfunctional or non-existent excretion of insulin from the islet cells of the pancreas or insulin insensitivity at the […]
Intracellular Delivery of Protein Drugs Intracellular protein delivery is a daunting task that is near impossible due to the size and surface charge of proteins. However, protein macromolecule delivery is used in numerous disease states, such as monoclonal antibody therapeutics for cancer, autoimmune diseases, or asthma as well as the delivery of recombinant insulin to […]
L-SOMA Gastric Auto-Injectors The majority of the world’s population very rarely thinks of the route of administration needed to maximize the efficiency of a drug. You have a headache, swallow a Tylenol, allergies intranasal delivery “snort” Flonase, having an asthma attack inhale Albuterol, or you accidentally bit into a peanut butter cookie thinking it was […]
CRISPR-Cas9 In Vivo Gene Editing for Transthyretin Amyloidosis The future is now … “clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats” and associated Cas9 endonuclease aka CRISPR-Cas9 had its inception in 2012 and a Nobel prize awarded in 2020. CRISPR is a powerful gene-editing technique first discovered in bacteria and adapted for permanent human gene knockout. While […]
In June, the FDA approved Wegovy for chronic weight management. This subcutaneous injection is the first approved drug for chronic weight management in adults with a high BMI and general obesity since 2014. With 70% of American adults being overweight or obese, there certainly seems to be room for new drug entrants to this growing […]
Birth control is a universal term that encompasses everything from a physical barrier to the chemical inhibition of ovulation. The most common form of contraception, according to the CDC, is female sterilization. Excluding sterilization, the second and third most common forms of birth control are oral contraceptive pills and long-acting reversible contraceptives. The commonality of […]
AstraZeneca’s mega $39 billion takeover of Alexion Pharmaceuticals has come to a close, delivering the British pharma a lucrative portfolio of immunology medicines and a towering presence in rare diseases. AZ on Wednesday announced the completion of its Alexion acquisition, a week after securing a pivotal nod from the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Industry watchers were concerned […]