A new fund to fast-track patient access to potentially valuable new medicines may incentivise the pharmaceutical industry to develop high priced drugs for rare diseases with weak evidence on clinical benefits.

Health economics and policy academics from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), writing in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, warn that if the NHS England Innovative Medicines Fund (IMF) is not implemented appropriately, it risks disincentivising the generation of essential evidence and could shift the financial burden from the pharmaceutical industry to the public finances.

More and more bacterial pathogens are developing resistance. There is an increasing risk that common drugs will no longer be effective against infectious diseases. That is why scientists around the world are searching for new effective substances. Researchers from the University of Bonn, the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Utrecht University (Netherlands), Northeastern University in Boston (USA) and the company NovoBiotic Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge (USA) now have discovered and deciphered the mode of action of a new antibiotic.

DNA can be damaged by toxins, radiation, or even normal cell division, but human cells must continually fix DNA breaks to survive. In cells that cannot repair DNA effectively, changes (mutations) can occur that lead to cancer.

Most cells rely on a system called homologous recombination or HR, which uses proteins called BRCA1 and BRCA2 for accurate DNA repair.

People who adhere to a Mediterranean lifestyle - which includes a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains; healthy eating habits like limiting added salts and sugars; and habits promoting adequate rest, physical activity, and socialization - have a lower risk of all-cause and cancer mortality, according to a new study led by La Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Dr. Heather Sandison, a leading expert in Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementia (ADRD) care, has recently published a groundbreaking study in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, highlighting significant improvements in cognitive function among individuals with cognitive decline. The study is the second to employ a multimodal, individualized care plan and offers further hope for managing and potentially reversing cognitive impairment.

Equipping cancer-infecting, or oncolytic, viruses with tumor-inhibiting genetic cargo stimulates the immune system and helps immunotherapy to shrink or completely clear aggressive tumors in mice, according to a new study in the Journal of Experimental Medicine led by University of Pittsburgh and UPMC researchers. The results pave the way for clinical trials combining oncolytic viruses with immunotherapy.

A collaborative study undertaken by the Navarrabiomed Biomedical Research Center (Pamplona, ​​Navarre), the Institute of Neurosciences CSIC-UMH (Sant Joan d'Alacant, Valencian Community) and IRB Barcelona (Barcelona, ​​Catalonia) shows that the administration of ranolazine, a drug currently used to treat heart conditions, improves the efficacy of current therapies for melanoma, in mouse models of this disease.