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Category: biotech/medical – Page 76

MHRA authorises cancer treatment variation with an administration time of 3–5 minutes

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has today (30 April 2025) approved a new under-the-skin injection version of the cancer therapy, nivolumab (Opdivo), offering a quicker administration option for eligible patients.

The subcutaneous formulation of nivolumab can be given as a 3–5-minute injection instead of the 30-or 60-minute intravenous (IV) infusion. Several common cancers can be treated by nivolumab, including lung, bowel, kidney, bladder, oesophageal, skin, and head and neck cancers.

Patient safety is our top priority, which is why I am pleased to confirm the national approval of the new under-the-skin injection version of nivolumab.

This approval marks an important step forward in improving treatment access and reducing the time patients spend in clinics. It has the potential to ease pressures on NHS services, while also giving patients flexibility in their care.

We’re assured that the appropriate regulatory standards of safety, quality, and efficacy for the approval of this new formulation have been met. As with all products, we will keep its safety under close review.

One protein mitigates Huntington’s disease, and one exacerbates it

A decade ago, University at Buffalo researchers shed some light on an enduring neuroscience mystery: How exactly does a mutated huntingtin protein (HTT) cause Huntington’s disease?

They found that HTT is something like a traffic controller inside neurons, moving different cargo along neuronal highways called axons in concert with other proteins that are key for cellular function and survival. Reduce the amount of non-mutant HTT and you’ll create the neurological equivalent of traffic jams and roadblocks.

Now, the researchers have learned more about what can control the traffic-controlling HTT.

NHS rolls out 5-minute ‘super-jab’ for 15 cancers

Thousands of patients will benefit from a new cancer jab for more than a dozen types of the disease, with the NHS the first in Europe to offer the new injection. The health service is rolling out an injectable form of immunotherapy, nivolumab, which means patients can receive their fortnightly or monthly treatment in 5 […]

More Patients May Be Able To Avoid Cancer Surgery; Immunotherapy Drug Jemperli Shows Promise Across Several Different Cancer Types

Patients with certain types of early stage cancer, particularly those affecting the gastrointestinal system, may be able to avoid surgery and be successful

Scientists edge closer to affordable superconductors: Novel materials could eventually power electric vehicles and more

Imagine a world in which free-floating electric vehicles charge wirelessly as they glide down highways, laptops are hundreds of times more powerful, and clean energy flows in limitless supply.

Such a future, experts say, hinges on the development of new superconductors, or materials capable of transmitting electricity with near-perfect efficiency. The problem? All known superconductors—from pure elements like lead, tin, and aluminum to exotic compounds like niobium–titanium—must be subjected to or pressure to function, making them impractical for widespread use. More problematic still, scientists don’t fully understand how these materials work, making it difficult to engineer better versions.

Superconductors have already made their way into MRI machines, particle accelerators, and electromagnetic levitating trains, but they are extraordinarily expensive and finicky. The real game changer, experts say, will be figuring out how to custom-design superconductors that are cheaper and more versatile.

Restoration of retinal regenerative potential of Müller glia by disrupting intercellular Prox1 transfer

Individuals with retinal degenerative diseases struggle to restore vision due to the inability to regenerate retinal cells. Unlike cold-blooded vertebrates, mammals lack Müller glia (MG)-mediated retinal regeneration, indicating the limited regenerative capacity of mammalian MG. Here, we identify prospero-related homeobox 1 (Prox1) as a key factor restricting this process. Prox1 accumulates in MG of degenerating human and mouse retinas but not in regenerating zebrafish. In mice, Prox1 in MG originates from neighboring retinal neurons via intercellular transfer. Blocking this transfer enables MG reprogramming into retinal progenitor cells in injured mouse retinas. Moreover, adeno-associated viral delivery of an anti-Prox1 antibody, which sequesters extracellular Prox1, promotes retinal neuron regeneration and delays vision loss in a retinitis pigmentosa model. These findings establish Prox1 as a barrier to MG-mediated regeneration and highlight anti-Prox1 therapy as a promising strategy for restoring retinal regeneration in mammals.

Recovery for mammalian retinal degeneration is limited by a lack of Müller glia (MG)-mediated regeneration. Here authors show blocking Prox1 accumulation and intercellular transfer from retinal neurons enables MG reprogramming of retinal progenitor cells, promotes retinal neuron regeneration, and delays vision loss.

Urban rats spread deadly bacteria as they migrate, study finds

Urban rats spread a deadly bacteria as they migrate within cities that can be the source of a potentially life-threatening disease in humans, according to a six-year study by Tufts University researchers and their collaborators that also discovered a novel technique for testing rat kidneys.

Leptospirosis is a disease caused by a type of bacteria often found in rats. It’s spread through their urine into soil, water, or elsewhere in the environment, where it becomes a source of infection and contamination for humans, dogs, and other species. While it’s prevalent worldwide, it’s more common in tropical regions, though a changing climate means it could become more common in colder regions as they warm.

In Boston, leptospirosis persists in local rat populations, and different strains of the bacteria move around the city as groups of rats migrate, according to a new study by Marieke Rosenbaum, M.P.H., D.V.M., assistant professor in the Department of Infectious Disease and Global Health at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, along with co-authors at Northern Arizona University (NAU), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In addition, their of a 2018 human leptospirosis case in Boston strongly suggests a link to rats as the source.

New insights into how cancer spreads prompt rethink of metastasis care

A McGill University-led research collaboration has achieved a breakthrough in understanding how cancer spreads. A clinical study of ovarian and colorectal cancer patients found cancer cells move in the bloodstream in clusters more commonly than was previously thought. The discovery could help doctors more quickly identify which cancer patients are at high risk of having their cancer spread to other organs, knowledge that could guide treatment decisions. The findings also potentially open new avenues for treatment.

The study, published in Communications Medicine, was conducted with researchers and clinicians Anne-Marie Mes-Masson and Dr. Diane Provencher at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, Dr. Peter Metrakos at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre and Luke McCaffrey at the McGill-affiliated Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Institute.

Cancer is responsible for about 1 in 4 deaths in Canada. In most cases, it is not the original tumor that proves fatal, but the cancer spreading to other organs, a process called metastasis. This occurs when circulating tumor cells (CTCs) break away from tumors, enter the bloodstream, and seed new tumors elsewhere in the body. On rare occasions, CTCs break away as a group of cells sticking to one another and forming a cluster.