Research

Therapy using dual immune system cells effectively controls neuroblastoma

A newly developed immunotherapy that simultaneously uses modified immune-fighting cells to home in on and attack two antigens, or foreign substances, on cancer cells was highly effective in mice implanted with human neuroblastoma tissue, report researchers from the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and the UNC School of Medicine.

COVID-19 nasal vaccine candidate effective at preventing disease transmission

Breathe in, breathe out. That’s how easy it is for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to enter your nose. And though remarkable progress has been made in developing intramuscular vaccines against SARS-CoV- 2, such as the readily available Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines, nothing yet - like a nasal vaccine - has been approved to provide mucosal immunity in the nose, the first barrier against the virus before it travels down to the lungs.

Scientific evidence to date on COVID-19 vaccine efficacy does not support boosters for general population

An expert review by an international group of scientists, including some at the WHO and FDA, concludes that, even for the delta variant, vaccine efficacy against severe COVID is so high that booster doses for the general population are not appropriate at this stage in the pandemic.

The review, published in The Lancet, summarises the currently available evidence from randomised controlled trials and observational studies published in peer-reviewed journals and pre-print servers.

First-in-human clinical trial for a vaccine to treat opioid use disorders enrolls first patients

The first patients have been enrolled in a phase 1 randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial to study a therapeutic vaccine for opioid use disorder developed by researchers at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, the trial will test the safety and potential efficacy of a vaccine that is designed to selectively prevent the euphoric and toxic effects of oxycodone.

No serious health effects linked to mRNA COVID-19 vaccines

Federal and Kaiser Permanente researchers combing the health records of 6.2 million patients found no serious health effects that could be linked to the 2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.

The study published September 2 in JAMA reports the first comprehensive findings of the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), which studies patient records for 12 million people in 5 Kaiser Permanente service regions along with HealthPartners in Minneapolis, the Marshfield Clinic in Wisconsin, and Denver Health.

Rheumatoid arthritis treated with implanted cells that release drug

With a goal of developing rheumatoid arthritis therapies with minimal side effects, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have genetically engineered cells that, when implanted in mice, will deliver a biologic drug in response to inflammation.

A drug costing less than €2 a day helps in the treatment of severely ill COVID-19 patients

Metoprolol, a drug widely used to treat cardiovascular disease, is beneficial when administered to COVID-19 patients. This is the finding of a study by investigators at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC).

Research & Development

Therapy using dual immune system cells effectively controls neuroblastoma

COVID-19 nasal vaccine candidate effective at preventing disease transmission

Scientific evidence to date on COVID-19 vaccine efficacy does not support boosters for general population

First-in-human clinical trial for a vaccine to treat opioid use disorders enrolls first patients

No serious health effects linked to mRNA COVID-19 vaccines

Rheumatoid arthritis treated with implanted cells that release drug

A drug costing less than €2 a day helps in the treatment of severely ill COVID-19 patients

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