TITANIUM PROFESSIONALS

The pharmaceutical industry stands at a transformative crossroads as artificial intelligence reshapes the landscape of drug development. In a Correspondence published in the KeAi journal Current Molecular Pharmacology, a group of researchers from China illuminate how large language models (LLMs) - the sophisticated AI systems powering advanced chatbots - are delivering unprecedented breakthroughs across the entire drug discovery pipeline.

Over the past 20 years, a class of cancer drugs called CD40 agonist antibodies have shown great promise - and induced great disappointment. While effective at activating the immune system to kill cancer cells in animal models, the drugs had limited impact on patients in clinical trials and caused dangerously systemic inflammatory responses, low platelet counts, and liver toxicity, among other adverse reactions - even at a low dose.

Bayer and Kumquat Biosciences Inc., a clinical-stage biotech company founded by pioneers of the KRAS pathway, have entered into an exclusive global license and collaboration to develop and commercialize Kumquat's KRAS G12D inhibitor. Under the agreement, Kumquat is responsible for the initiation and completion of the Phase Ia study, while Bayer will complete development and commercial activities.

Following a heart attack, blood flow to the heart is interrupted and the resulting lack of oxygen can cause heart damage. The heart wall can rupture in severe cases, requiring immediate surgical intervention. Today, bovine pericardial patches are used to repair such heart defects owing to their stability, permeability, and ease of implantation.

Do you have a meditation app on your smartphone, computer or wearable device? Well, you're not alone.

There are now thousands of meditation apps available worldwide, the top 10 of which have been collectively downloaded more than 300 million times. What’s more, early work on these digital meditation platforms shows that even relatively brief usage can lead to benefits, from reduced depression, anxiety, and stress to improved insomnia symptoms.

McGill University researchers have developed and are licensing a digital tool to help safely reduce patients’ use of medications that may be unnecessary or even harmful to them.

When clinicians review a patient’s file, MedSafer flags potentially inappropriate medications. In a new clinical trial, the software helped deprescribe such medications in 36 per cent of long-term care residents, nearly triple as many as when reviews were done without the tool.

Opioids like morphine are widely used in medical practice due to their powerful pain-relieving effects. However, they carry the risk of serious adverse effects such as respiratory depression and drug dependence. For this reason, Japan has strict regulations in place to ensure that these medications are prescribed only by authorized physicians.

In the United States, however, the opioid OxyContin was once prescribed frequently triggering a surge in the misuse of synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.

More than a decade ago, researchers found that an acute complication of type 1 diabetes, diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), can be resolved with the hormone leptin, even in the absence of insulin.

An analysis published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation explains how leptin affects the brain and how it might be used in future therapeutics.

In a discovery that could guide the development of next-generation antidepressants and antipsychotic medications, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed new insights into how a critical brain receptor works at the molecular level and why that matters for mental health treatments.

The study, published in the online issue of Science Advances, focuses on the 5-HT1A serotonin receptor, a major player in regulating mood and a common target of both traditional antidepressants and newer therapies such as psychedelics.

Researchers have discovered a protein which is critical for steering melanoma cancer cells as they spread throughout the body. The malignant cells become dependent on this protein to migrate, pointing to new strategies for impeding metastasis.

The protein eIF2A is generally thought to spring into action when a cell is under stress, helping ribosomes launch protein synthesis.

Cambridge scientists have developed and tested a new drug in mice that has the potential to reduce damage to the brain when blood flow is restored following a stroke.

As many as one in four people will have a stroke during their lifetime. This is when a blood clot prevents oxygen from reaching a part of the brain.

Multidrug resistant bacteria kill five million people each year, with newly resistant germs emerging faster than scientists can develop treatments.

Now, researchers have developed a platform that identifies drug resistance genes already circulating in the environment before they emerge in the clinic and directly couples this information to the design of resistance-evasive antibiotics.

A healthy diet can slow down the accumulation of chronic diseases in older adults, while inflammatory diets accelerate it. This is shown by a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in Nature Aging.

Researchers have investigated how four different diets affect the accumulation of chronic diseases in older adults. Three of the diets studied were healthy and focused on the intake of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, nuts, legumes, unsaturated fats and reduced intake of sweets, red meat, processed meat and butter/margarine.

A landmark study has revealed that autoantibodies - immune proteins traditionally associated with autoimmune disease - may profoundly influence how cancer patients respond to immunotherapy.

The study, published in Nature, offers a potential breakthrough in solving one of modern-day oncology’s most frustrating mysteries: why checkpoint inhibitors work for some patients but not others - and how we can extend their benefits to more people.

While current treatments for schizophrenia - a mental illness affecting 1% of the world’s population - can reduce certain symptoms, they have little effect on the cognitive deficits affecting the daily life of patients.

Scientists at the Institute of Functional Genomics (CNRS/Inserm/Université de Montpellier) have just designed a nanobody made from llama antibodies that can specifically activate a glutamate receptor involved in regulating neural activity.

An experimental mRNA vaccine boosted the tumor-fighting effects of immunotherapy in a mouse-model study, bringing researchers one step closer to their goal of developing a universal vaccine to "wake up" the immune system against cancer.

Published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, the University of Florida study showed that like a one-two punch, pairing the test vaccine with common anticancer drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors triggered a strong antitumor response.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) announced today the completion of a global, ex-China, licensing agreement with 3SBio, Inc. (01530.HK) granting Pfizer exclusive rights for the development, manufacturing and commercialization of 3SBio's SSGJ-707, a bispecific antibody targeting PD-1 and VEGF developed using 3SBio's proprietary CLF2 platform. This agreement solidifies Pfizer at the forefront of innovative cancer research and further enhances the company’s robust oncology pipeline.

Chemists have developed a novel way to generate a variety of highly useful chemical building blocks by harnessing metal carbenes, suggests new research.

Typically used in chemical reactions essential for drug synthesis and materials development, carbenes are short-lived, highly reactive carbon atoms.

Stevia may provide more benefits than as a zero-calorie sugar substitute. When fermented with bacteria isolated from banana leaves, stevia extract kills off pancreatic cancer cells but doesn’t harm healthy kidney cells, according to a research team at Hiroshima University.

The researchers published their findings in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) causes misery for millions worldwide. It affects the large intestine, causing pain, cramping, and frequent bowel movements with bloody diarrhea. Although some people go through periods when they feel well, the disease will suddenly flare up, causing another cycle of pain, diarrhea, and weight loss. There is currently no cure.