Recent Episodes
Discoveries in biomedical research drive the advances that help us stay healthier and live longer. We want to highlight a few breakthroughs from this past year. Semaglutide which is a miracle weight loss drug that you may know as Ozempic or Wegovy. They started as a diabetes drug and then researchers noticed they also ease symptoms from other illnesses such as heart disease and even knee pain from arthritis.
Amazingly, we’re close to having drugs that prevent HIV. Lenacapivir is injected twice a year and has a ninety-nine percent HIV prevention rate.
There’s a new drug for schizophrenia called Cobenfy that targets muscarinic receptors in the brain. Few new drugs have been developed for schizophrenia and this one started as an Alzheimer’s drug.
For Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Duvyzat is a new drug that helps patients regain some mobility. And for cancer, two new treatments are notable. Enhertu is a new drug for HER-two positive breast cancer, and Osimertinnib is a new drug to combat non-small cell lung cancer which usually plagues non-smokers. The drug inhibits EGFR, which stimulates cancer cells to grow.
Finally, let’s recognize that xenotropic transplantation using genetically modified pig-grown organs now being transplanted in humans.
Read and listen to us this year for many more exciting biomedical and medical advances. Maybe living to120 isn’t so far off!
More Information
Five medical breakthroughs in 2024
Here I’ve highlighted five medical treatments that have shown high efficacy in (often multiple) phase three randomized controlled trials, which are large, rigorous, and receive much closer independent oversight. I’ve chosen medical treatments whose results were published in 2024.
The biggest medical advances of 2024
These drugs and procedures are changing the way we care for patients, and how they live
Medicine...
Medicine is constantly advancing – that is a great thing about life in the 21st century. But it doesn’t just happen. Dedicated biomedical scientists are making discoveries that translate into those new medical advances.
Biomedical science is broad, encompassing everything from social science to microbiology, biochemistry, epidemiology, to structural biology and bioinformatics to name just a few areas. And, it can involve basic fundamental biology, the use of AI and chemistry to clinical studies that evaluate new medicines in patients.
No matter the research focus, the goal is always the same, to advance human health. It may take a few months, a few years or for fundamental science, a few decades. Few people make the connection that biomedical science is medicine and that biomedical scientists are working today on the medicine of tomorrow. Our weekly 500-word newspaper columns and 2-minute radio shows and podcasts provide insights into a broad range of biomedical science topics.
Medical Discovery News is dedicated to explaining discoveries in biomedical research and their promise for the future of medicine.