DRUG DISCOVERY
3D-printed tumour models speed up cancer drug testing
Vidmantas Šakalys, CEO of Vital3D, offers insights on the potential applications of the technology and key limitations that still need to be resolved.
Rising global cancer cases and diagnostic backlogs are increasing demand for more accurate and efficient research tools....
Breakthrough glioblastoma treatments move closer
A collaborative project aims to accelerate a new approach to treat the most aggressive forms of brain cancer.
Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC) and King’s College London (KCL) have been awarded £400k funding from The Brain Tumour Charity to develop a...
New NICE thresholds ‘good news’ for ultra-rare disease drugs
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), the body that determines the clinical effectiveness and economic value of new medicines, has increased the cost-effectiveness thresholds it applies for drugs that qualify for their Highly Specialised Technology (HST)...
£7.5m global prize pushes for ALS drug treatment breakthrough
The Longitude Prize on ALS, a new £7.5 million global challenge prize, aims to encourage and reward cutting edge AI-based approaches to transform drug discovery for the treatment of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), the most common form of MND...
A new architecture at the heart of molecules
A team from UNIGE and the University of Pisa has designed surprisingly stable molecular assemblies, paving the way for new drug constructs and geometrically controlled materials.
Can you imagine a life-saving molecule whose “twin” is a deadly poison? As surprising...
New discovery in diabetes and obesity treatment
Scientists have unlocked new details on important ‘receptor’ proteins –promising targets for the creation of novel drugs for metabolic conditions ranging from diabetes to obesity and inflammatory disorders.
The discovery – published in Nature and led by the University of...
British scientists unveil world-leading technology to speed up drug discovery
A new 3D bio-printer that produces human-like tissue holds the potential to revolutionise the discovery of new drugs for cancer, heart disease and arthritis.
Scientists from Newcastle University, with funding from Versus Arthritis, have developed a unique approach to bioprinting...
E. Coli Treatment: Is Aurodox the Breakthrough We Need?
A potential new treatment is in line for the Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC), the notorious bug associated with severe food poisoning.
The findings – led by the University of Glasgow and published in Antimicrobials and Resistance – demonstrate, for...
New findings on the power of enzymes could reshape biochemistry
Stanford researchers have illuminated how enzymes are able speed up life-sustaining biochemical reactions so dramatically. Their discoveries could impact fields ranging from basic science to drug discovery.
Using a series of more than 1,000...
using marine microbes to make industrial processes more sustainable
In February 2023, James Finnigan and his team at Prozomix set out to sample Great Britain’s major estuaries. They were looking for microbes with interesting properties that could potentially be used in industrial processes across the world.
If you sequence...
Light can activate treatments in the right place
Scientists from UNIGE have developed a tool to control the activity and location of a molecule using light, which could help target better drug treatment.
Action in the right place at the right time is the key to effective medical...
Medicinal chemistry of ETD001, a novel inhaled ENaC blocker for the treatment of cystic fibrosis
A paper in the European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry discloses the optimisation process leading to the selection for development of ETD001, an inhaled ENaC blocker with a best-in-class profile. The Phase 2 clinical study in people with cystic fibrosis...
Antibacterial material restores efficacy of antibiotics against resistant bacteria
Resistant bacteria can regain susceptibility to antibiotics when the treatment is combined with a material equipped with antibacterial peptides.
The study, performed in a laboratory environment, shows that antibiotics can achieve a 64-fold increase in bactericidal effect when used together...
How life-saving molecules are created
The discovery, which has long eluded scientists, could help unlock next-generation therapeutics.
McGill University researchers have discovered how certain microbes create potent drugs like antibiotics and anti-cancer therapies.
Their surprising findings could change the way scientists approach drug discovery and pave...
protein cage design for advanced drug delivery systems unveiled
An international collaboration between researchers at Durham University (UK) and the Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University (Poland) has resulted in the generation of a novel artificial protein cage that holds great promise as an advanced drug delivery system.
The...
Diabetes drug slows growth of normal cells with cancer mutation
A common diabetes medication, metformin, slows the growth of pre-cancerous cells in the oesophagus while some metabolic conditions accelerate it, suggests a new study.
Researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute discovered that metformin reduced the growth of potentially cancerous cells...
Dual action antibiotic could make bacterial resistance nearly impossible
A new antibiotic that works by disrupting two different cellular targets would make it 100 million times more difficult for bacteria to evolve resistance, according to research from the University of Illinois Chicago.
For a new paper in Nature Chemical...
Artificial sugars enhance disease diagnosis and treatment accuracy
Scientists have found a way to create artificial sugars that could lead to better ways to diagnose and treat diseases more accurately than ever before.
Sugars play a crucial role in human health and disease, far beyond being just an...
AI unlocks virus protein structures for the first time
Scientists are pioneering the use of machine-learning artificial intelligence software to investigate viruses, revealing never-before-seen viral mechanisms which yield fundamental insights and pave the way for vaccine development.
The research – published in Nature and led by the MRC-University of Glasgow...
Enzyme discovery paves way for greener cancer treatments
Scientists from The University of Manchester have uncovered a more efficient and sustainable way to make peptide-based medicines, showing promising effectiveness in combating cancers.
Peptides are comprised of small chains of amino acids, which are also the building blocks of...
Trailblazing scientist is first British winner of Lifetime Achievement Award
British scientist Dame Carol Robinson has received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the European Inventor Award 2024.
The Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford is a trailblazer in the field of mass spectrometry and has dedicated her career...
Scientists create tailored drug for aggressive breast cancer
Scientists have used breast cancer cells’ weakness against themselves by linking a tumour-selective antibody with a cell-killing drug to destroy hard-to-treat tumours.
The research, published in Clinical Cancer Research by a team from King’s College London and funded by Breast...
Chicken feathers to deliver chemotherapy drugs and repair enzymes
A new method of drug delivery using proline, an amino acid found in chicken feathers and skin tissue, could be used to limit the side effects of chemotherapy and repair important enzymes, new research suggests.
Published in the journal Chem,...
Breakthrough in creating cyclic peptide opens the way for new antibiotics
A discovery by scientists at King’s College London could speed up efforts to produce new antibiotics in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.
In a paper published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, scientists from the Department of Chemistry...
How efficient logistics can change the lives of rare disease patients
Dr. Danial Arkwell, Head of Global Key Accounts, Pharma, at Envirotainer, highlights the vital role of efficient logistics in getting orphan drugs to patients in desperate need.
There are approximately 8,000 rare diseases in the world, and many are life-threatening....
Unlocking potential: The impact of CRISPR in organoid research
This exclusive article is by Dr. Ralph Vogelsang, Senior Director of Business Development & Licensing, ERS Genomics.
Conventional drug discovery models, such as animal models or human cell lines, often fail due to their divergence from human biology. In fact,...
New antibiotic ‘evades bacterial resistance’
A promising new weapon has emerged in the fight against drug-resistant bacteria and resultant diseases, writes Rob Mitchum.
The antibiotic cresomycin - described in Science - effectively suppresses pathogenic bacteria that have become resistant to many commonly prescribed antimicrobial drugs.
Developed...
Europe’s ‘disappearing’ generic medicines are a growing crisis
Europe’s critical medicine cabinets – in hospitals, pharmacies, and homes – are home to fewer generic medicines. These are the often-cheaper alternatives to brand name medicines, that make up 67%1 of all medicines.
Research from Teva Pharmaceuticals shows that over the...
Tiny sea microbes could unlock new cures
Off the coast of Spain, studies of the marine microbiome are opening new doors for pharmacology, writes Claudia Alemañy Castilla.
The island of Tabarca, near Alicante, is a tourist magnet. It’s also a working platform for the study of marine...
Breaking new ground in antibiotic research with neutrons
Dr Luke Clifton, Instrument Scientist at ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, explains how neutrons have emerged as a highly effective tool in the fight against AMR.
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been one of the biggest threats to global health since...
