(CNN)Jo Cameron, a 71-year-old Scottish woman, has never needed to take painkillers after seeing the dentist and can eat spicy Scotch bonnet chilis without any discomfort. She thought little of it until she sought treatment for a hip problem at the age of 65. Doctors were astonished to find that she experienced no pain despite severe degeneration in her joint. A year later, she said she felt no pain after undergoing what's typically a very painful operation on her hand for osteoarthritis. Her doctors decided to analyze whether her lack of pain sensitivity was due to genetics and found it was caused by a mutation in a previously unidentified gene. "I had no idea until a few years ago that there was anything that unusual about how little pain I feel. I just thought it was normal," Cameron said in a news release. In a case study published Thursday, researchers explained the discovery could help guide new treatments for a range of conditions, from post-operative pain to anxiety. … [Read more...] about Woman who feels no pain could help scientists develop new painkillers
Developing new medicines
New medicine could treat hundreds of thousands of patients with tuberculosis
A TEAM of researchers led by scientists at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) has developed a new treatment for tuberculosis (TB), which could has the potential to be scaled-up and mass-produced for clinical testing. The treatment, which patients would take using an inhaler, works by reducing the bacteria in the lungs that causes tuberculosis while also helping the patient's immune system fight the disease. TB was prevalent in Ireland in the early-to-mid 20th century. Today it remains common in some parts of the world, especially Africa and South-East Asia."Tuberculosis is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide," according to the World Health Organization (WHO). "Ten million people fell ill with TB and 1.6 million died from the disease in 2017." Funded by the Health Research Board and the Royal City of Dublin Hospital Trust, the research is published in the European Journal of Pharmaceutics & Biopharmaceutics. Dr Gemma O'Connor and Prof Sally-Ann Cryan of RCSI led … [Read more...] about New medicine could treat hundreds of thousands of patients with tuberculosis
2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine Awarded to 2 Cancer Immunotherapy Researchers
Sections SEARCH Skip to content Skip to site index Health Subscribe Log In Subscribe Log In Today’s Paper Advertisement Supported by ByThe New York Times Oct. 1, 2018 The 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded on Monday to James P. Allison of the United States and Tasuku Honjo of Japan for their work on unleashing the immune system’s ability to attack cancer, a breakthrough in developing new cancer treatments. Why did they win? Dr. Allison and Dr. Honjo, working separately, showed how certain proteins act as “brakes” on the immune system’s T-cells, limiting their ability to attack cancer cells, and that suppressing those proteins could transform the body’s ability to fight cancer. Why is the work important? Until their breakthroughs — Dr. Honjo’s at Kyoto University, and Dr. Allison’s at the University of California at Berkeley and Memorial Sloan Kettering … [Read more...] about 2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine Awarded to 2 Cancer Immunotherapy Researchers
UK doctors win battle with drug giants over cheaper eye medicine
ZURICH (Reuters) - Drug giants Novartis, Bayer and Roche on Friday lost a bid to stop British doctors from recommending a cheaper drug option for people with an eye disease that causes blindness, the High Court in London ruled. A drug industry group said the decision was “extraordinary” and was bad news for future regulatory cooperation between Britain and the European Union after Britain’s exit from the bloc next year. The companies had sought to block doctors from 12 health groups in the north of England from making Roche’s cancer therapy Avastin the preferred option for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), even though it is not licensed for this use. Avastin works similarly to Bayer’s Eylea and Roche’s and Novartis’s Lucentis, but those drugs were made specifically for the eye. “Treating clinicians can lawfully choose Avastin for opthalmic use on grounds of cost,” according to the ruling. It added that NICE, the … [Read more...] about UK doctors win battle with drug giants over cheaper eye medicine
Is ‘Precision Medicine’ The Answer To Cancer? Not Precisely.
Facing incurable breast cancer at age 55, MaryAnne DiCanto put her faith in “precision medicine” — in which doctors try to match patients with drugs that target the genetic mutations in their tumors. She underwent repeated biopsies to identify therapies that might help. “She believed in it wholeheartedly,” said her husband, Scott Primiano of Amityville, N.Y., a flood-insurance broker. “You live on hope for so long, it’s hard to let go.” Around this point in the average news story, readers would learn how DiCanto — mother to a blended family of five — took a chance on an experimental drug that no one expected to work. She would be the scrappy protagonist whose determination to “keep fighting” enabled her to beat the odds — allowing us to celebrate the triumph of modern science and worry a bit less about our own mortality. But there’s a serious problem with talking about precision medicine for cancer this … [Read more...] about Is ‘Precision Medicine’ The Answer To Cancer? Not Precisely.