TITANIUM PROFESSIONALS

A widely available and affordable drug has been shown to be effective in treating seriously ill COVID-19 patients, according to a new international study led by researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) in collaboration with King's College London.

The study analysed data from almost 500 patients hospitalised with COVID-19 across six countries.

Researchers from Queen Mary University of London’s School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences, using the simple fission yeast as a model, have shown that new TOR inhibitor rapalink-1 prolongs chronological lifespan.

The new study, published in Communications Biology journal by Juhi Kumar, Kristal Ng and Charalampos Rallis, sheds light on how drugs and natural metabolites can influence lifespan through the Target of Rapamycin (TOR) pathway.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) and Metsera, Inc. (NASDAQ: MTSR) announced the companies have entered into a definitive agreement under which Pfizer will acquire Metsera, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company accelerating the next generation of medicines for obesity and cardiometabolic diseases. The acquisition brings deep expertise and a portfolio of differentiated oral and injectable incretin, non-incretin and combination therapy candidates with potential best-in-class efficacy and safety profiles.

A new study from researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center shows that the glucose-fructose mix found in sugary drinks directly fuels metastasis in preclinical models of advanced colorectal cancer. The study was published in Nature Metabolism.

A research team led by Jihye Yun, Ph.D., assistant professor of Genetics, studied how sugary drinks may affect late-stage colorectal cancer.

If you're looking to reduce your chances of developing lung disease, say experts at UC San Francisco, then it may be smart to avoid inhaling cannabis.

A new study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine found that inhaling marijuana every day is associated with a 44% increased chance of developing asthma.

Most bacteria cannot be cultured in the lab - and that's been bad news for medicine. Many of our frontline antibiotics originated from microbes, yet as antibiotic resistance spreads and drug pipelines run dry, the soil beneath our feet has a vast hidden reservoir of untapped lifesaving compounds.

Now, researchers have developed a way to access this microbial goldmine.

Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced today that it has entered into a definitive merger agreement to acquire 89bio, Inc. (Nasdaq: ETNB), a publicly listed clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of innovative therapies for the treatment of liver and cardiometabolic diseases. 89bio’s pegozafermin is a FGF21 analog currently in late-stage development for MASH in moderate and severe fibrotic patients (F2 and F3 stages) as well as cirrhotic patients (F4 stage).

For decades, amino acids have been added to medical formulations like insulin as stabilizers: these small molecules keep proteins (i.e. larger particles) from interacting in undesirable ways. And for decades, scientists have known that this works - but not why.

Now, an international team of scientists, led by the Supramolecular Nano-Materials and Interfaces Laboratory in EPFL's School of Engineering,

Altuna Akalin and his team at the Max Delbrück Center have developed a new tool to more precisely guide cancer treatment. Described in a paper published in Nature Communications, the tool, called Flexynesis, uses deep neural networks and evaluates multi modal data.

Nearly 50 new cancer therapies are approved every year. This is good news.

Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Huntington’s disease are characterized by the progressive loss of neurons. The resulting debilitating symptoms, such as loss of memory and cognition, and motor impairment, can significantly degrade patients' quality of life, confining them to round-the-clock care. While currently used drugs help alleviate symptoms, curative treatments are lacking, thus underscoring the need for novel therapeutic strategies.

An international team of scientists led by researchers at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS), Imperial College London and the University of Cologne have discovered that microbes associated with tumours produce a molecule, which can control cancer progression and boost the effectiveness of chemotherapy.

Most people are familiar with the microbes on our skin or in our gut, but recent discoveries have revealed that tumours also host unique communities of bacteria.

In a move that could reshape drug discovery, researchers at Harvard Medical School have designed an artificial intelligence model capable of identifying treatments that reverse disease states in cells.

Unlike traditional approaches that typically test one protein target or drug at a time in hopes of identifying an effective treatment, the new model, called PDGrapher and available for free,

Novartis has entered into an agreement to acquire Tourmaline Bio, Inc. ("Tourmaline") (Nasdaq: TRML), a New York-based, publicly traded clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing pacibekitug, an anti-IL-6 mAb, as a treatment option for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Pacibekitug complements Novartis’ cardiovascular strategy by targeting IL-6, a key upstream cytokine that promotes systemic inflammation, thus addressing a critical unmet need.

When it comes to their survival, cancer cells have a host of backup plans.

This is especially true of the nutrients that cancers use to grow and spread. In addition to relying on sugars like glucose to power their proliferation, some cancer cells also use ketones - metabolites produced from fats when the body is fasting or on a low carb diet - as an alternate fuel source.

Glioblastomas are the deadliest form of malignant brain tumor, and most patients diagnosed with the disease live only one or two years.

In these tumors, normal cells in the brain become aggressive, growing rapidly and invading the surrounding tissue.

Tumours have developed many strategies and tricks to gain advantages in the body. Led by cell biology professor Sabine Werner, researchers at ETH Zurich have now discovered another surprising trick that certain tumours resort to in ensuring their survival and growth.

In a new study published in the journal Nature Cancer, the biologists show that skin cancer cells are able to transfer their mitochondria to healthy connective tissue cells (fibroblasts) in their immediate vicinity.

Novartis announced positive results from V-DIFFERENCE, a Phase IV study evaluating Leqvio® (inclisiran) compared to placebo, both administered on top of individually optimized lipid-lowering therapy (LLT), in patients with high cholesterol (hypercholesterolemia) who have not achieved guideline-recommended low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) goals.

Young children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder often receive medication just after being diagnosed, which contravenes treatment guidelines endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, a Stanford Medicine-led study has found.

The finding, which will be published in JAMA Network Open, highlights a gap in medical care for 4- and 5-year-olds with ADHD.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major health issue worldwide. Many patients end up requiring regular dialysis to avoid kidney failure and stay alive. Despite the severity of the condition, there are currently no drugs available that improve kidney function. A research group led by Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine’s Professor Takaaki Abe has found a remarkable solution to treat patients with CKD by co-opting a drug typically used for constipation.

Like bees breathing life into gardens, providing pollen and making flowers blossom, little cellular machines called mitochondria breathe life into our bodies, buzzing with energy as they produce the fuel that powers each of our cells. Maintaining mitochondrial metabolism requires input from many molecules and proteins - some of which have yet to be discovered.