#clinical trials

#clinical trials

An SF-based biotech company is working on a safer, reformulated version of MDMA, better known as molly' or ecstasy,' and we're not tripping when we say they just won FDA approval to begin Phase 1 clinical trials. We have occasionally covered Bay Area medical research into MDMA, the street drug known as ecstasy or molly, and perhaps a little too enthusiastically at that.

But last Wednesday was a day unlike any other. I cried with every single patient, Sung says. It just was this crazy feeling that, for the patients and families, almost can't feel real. That day the results of important phase 1/2 clinical trials had finally been released: an experimental gene therapy drug was the first treatment shown to slow the progression of Huntington's disease.

Life sciences leaders are increasingly adopting AI and AI agents to address growing industry disruption. This shift is occurring as the sector confronts new regulatory demands that strain compliance teams, increasingly complex clinical trials, and rising expectations from healthcare professionals. A recent Salesforce study revealed that life sciences leaders see AI as a powerful tool for navigating these challenges, with 94% expecting AI agents to be critical for scaling organizational capacity and strengthening operations.

Recent headlines warning of concerns such as heart risks or danger to teenagers have put a new spotlight on a diet trend that has long been the popular epitome of a healthy lifestyle: intermittent fasting. Intermittent fasting's image has been deeply tarnishedand quite rightly so, says Stefan Kabisch, a physician at the endocrinology and metabolic medicine department at ChariteUniversity Medicine Berlin. The hype was never really backed up by good data in humans.

We've still got the best universities, we've got some of the best scientists in the world, but it's not a good place to do the development work for medicines. It's an expensive place to operate, and it's a terrible place to sell medicines.

There are no cures yet for dementia, an umbrella term for cognitive disorders, of which Alzheimer's is the most common. But thanks to advances in recent years, drugs can treat some symptoms of mild and even moderate impairment, and with the number of dementia cases in the U.S. expected to double by 2060 as the population ages and people live longer, there's hope for continued progress.

The simple truth is that medicine is always multimodal. A physician's mind doesn't travel in a straight line, drifting from the patient's story to the CT image, lab values, and clues in a physical exam.

"Dancing molecules," the promising new treatment for acute spinal cord injuries developed at Northwestern University, has received Orphan Drug Designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Biorce is exactly the kind of pioneering company we're here to back. They're combining deep sector expertise with cutting-edge AI to solve what truly matters.

Isomorphic Labs is focused on creating a general drug design engine that applies AI across various disease areas, not just specific targets or modalities.

The Neuralink chip, known as the Link or Telepathy, was implanted by surgeons at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, marking the first such procedure at a Miami hospital. The chip allows RJ to wirelessly control a computer, as demonstrated by his ability to play video games using only his mind.

The study highlighted that combining structured exercise with chemotherapy can improve overall health outcomes in colon cancer recovery, showing that exercise should complement medical treatments.

Prof Sir John Burn from Newcastle University stated that a study involving 1,879 individuals with Lynch syndrome shows a low dose of 75mg aspirin effectively reduces cancer risk as larger doses.

In a small study, the drug liraglutide reduced monthly migraine episodes by nearly half among people with obesity who experience the headache-inducing condition.

Business Vertex says the layoffs are due to the discontinuation of a Type 1 diabetes study.

The ARCAD database is a wonderful example of collaborative efforts around the world to create large patient-derived datasets that enable expanded research opportunities beyond the initial question addressed in the original design of a clinical trial.

This funding round gives us the momentum needed to take the next big step in our journey, launching U.S. clinical trials and supporting our European commercialization strategy.

The past research abuses at the Addiction Research Center (ARC) are emblematic of a broader, systemic issue of medical racism in U.S. healthcare.

Pliant Therapeutics announced a 45% workforce reduction, equivalent to about 75 employees, to extend its cash runway after halting a critical Phase 2b trial over safety concerns.

After 72 weeks, nearly 63 percent of those who received semaglutide injections and around 34 percent of those on placebo shots saw their liver condition improve.

Azalea Vision's first closing of its €15M Series A funding round enables the clinical trials of its revolutionary eye care technology, aimed at FDA approval.

The freeze of federal research grants to Harvard disrupts critical oversight of medical studies, impacting the rights and safety of research participants.