Apparatus

The impact of AlphaFold on protein structure prediction has been transformative.

Scientists from MIT designed a microfluidic device to capture and count circulating plasma cells in small samples of blood. This technique can only be carried out through routine blood drawing, which is expected to reduce the pain of patients' myeloma testing.

It is reported that researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology and Piemonte Heart Institute are using customized 3D printed heart valve models based on patients' heart CT scanning to improve the success rate of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) surgery. Their aim is to avoid perivalvular leakage. This research has been published in JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging.

Biopharmaceutical company Airway has announced that the first patient will be administered AT-100 (rhSP-D) in a phase 1b randomised trial to prevent the risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in very preterm infants. The novel prophylactic AT-100 reduces the incidence and severity of the severe respiratory disease BPD and may improve the prognosis of very preterm infants.

As more and more organisms become resistant to antibiotics, the threat to human health is increasing. The overuse of antibiotics leads to drug resistance. It is very important to limit the use of antibiotics. The research team of the University of Alberta in Canada has recently developed a hand-held detection instrument, which allows first-line clinicians to distinguish between patients with viral infection or bacterial infection within a few minutes, thus helping to reduce unnecessary antibiotic prescriptions and overuse of antibiotics. Because antibiotics are only effective for bacteria, if the patient is infected with virus, there is no need to prescribe antibiotics.

Data from a trial show that adding the new drug Eganelisib to standard treatment significantly improves the length of survival for patients with triple-negative breast cancer whose disease remains unexacerbated. Patients benefited regardless of their PD-L1 status.

Accelerating and simplifying the development and manufacturing process of cell and gene therapies.

The US FDA has approved a new leukaemia drug, Olutasidenib, which has been shown to be effective and has a controlled safety profile, resulting in the complete disappearance of cancer cells in 35% of patients enrolled, with efficacy lasting up to 25.9 months.

The "me better" strategy has always been a great story for pharmaceutical companies.

Recently, the US FDA has granted orphan drug status to two new therapeutics in a row. One is a small molecule inhibitor, PCLX-001, for the treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia; the other is a T-cell therapy, ET140203, for the treatment of hepatoblastoma. Both therapies are currently in relevant trials.