Sitagliptin, a drug to lower blood sugar in type 2 diabetes, also improves survival in diabetic patients hospitalized with COVID-19, suggests a multicenter observational study in Italy. Patients given sitagliptin in addition to insulin had a mortality rate of 18 percent as compared with 37 percent in matched patients receiving only insulin. Led by Paolo […]
Vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE) is among the leading causes of hospital-acquired infections in the United States. An estimated 20,000 people in the U.S. become infected with it each year, and nearly 10% of people who get it die from it. These superbugs typically develop from infections in the intestinal tract, where the bacteria become resistant to […]
An experimental medication slows the progression of the neurodegenerative disease called Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig’s disease, according to recently released results from a clinical trial run by investigators at the Sean M. Healey & AMG Center for ALS at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Amylyx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the company that manufactures the […]
With an increase in HIV and HCV infections as a consequence of the ongoing opioid epidemic, Boston Medical Center researchers found that only a small number of those who test positive for those infections at a drug detoxification center followed up for a clinical visit after their test. The study results showed that only 6 […]
An immunomodulatory drug called fingolimod, which is approved for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, blocks human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and transmission in human immune cells, according to a study published August 13 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Postdoctoral Fellow Rachel Resop and Assistant Professor Alberto Bosque of The George Washington University, and […]
The drug tocilizumab, which is used in the treatment of various forms of arthritis, can greatly shorten the time on ventilation and shorten hospital stays for patients with severe COVID-19, a new study from Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital published in The Journal of Internal Medicine reports. “The report is, as far as we […]
While immunotherapy—a form of treatment that uses the body’s immune system to recognize, attack and kill tumor cells—has given hope to people across the globe, it fails in a significant proportion of cancer patients. However, a new study published in the Nature journal Cell Death Discovery on Monday, July 6, suggests that blocking the tumor-promoting […]
In the cover article of the June 11 issue of the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, a team of researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina, led by Sherine Chan, Ph.D., and James Chou, Ph.D., reports that a new vitamin K-based drug has proved effective in mouse models of medication-resistant seizures. Chan and Chou, both […]
Barely three months ago, the anti-malarial drug that President Donald Trump touted seemed like such a sure bet against COVID-19 that Susanna Naggie had a tough time setting up a national clinical trial comparing it to placebo. Colleagues said giving a fake pill would be unethical since the real thing might save lives. Now, hydroxychloroquine, […]
There’s new evidence that a 2,000-year-old medicine might offer hope against a modern scourge: COVID-19. The medication, called colchicine, is an anti-inflammatory taken as a pill. It’s long been prescribed for gout, a form of arthritis, and its history goes back centuries. The drug was first sourced from the autumn crocus flower. Doctors also sometimes […]
