Research News

AstraZeneca and Sanofi’s Beyfortus (nirsevimab), a long-acting monoclonal antibody, has been approved in China for the prevention of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) in neonates and infants entering or during their first RSV season. Beyfortus is anticipated to be available during the upcoming 2024-2025 RSV season.

For decades, it has been known that people with diabetes are at a substantially increased risk of developing severe lung disease if they become infected with viruses such as influenza, as well as with bacteria and fungi. When the COVID-19 pandemic started in early 2020, this mysterious phenomenon gained even more pressing importance: It became clear that people with diabetes were at a significantly higher risk of coming down with severe, even fatal, lung disease after developing a serious form of the virus, but no one understood why.

Doctors from Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, and the Advanced Centre for Training Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC), Navi Mumbai, collaborated with IDRS Labs, Bangalore, to develop the first and only oral suspension of 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) in India. 6-MP is a chemotherapy drug used in the treatment of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL), the most common type of blood cancer afflicting children. The child friendly formulation is available in the form of a Powder for Oral Suspension, and is marketed under the tradename PREVALL.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have become a rapidly growing threat to public health. Each year, they account for more than 2.8 million infections, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Without new antibiotics, even common injuries and infections harbor the potential to become lethal.

Mayo Clinic researchers mapped how the measles virus mutated and spread in the brain of a person who succumbed to a rare, lethal brain disease. New cases of this disease, which is a complication of the measles virus, may occur as measles reemerges among the unvaccinated, say researchers.

Blood fat-lowering statins could slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease, at least for some patients. This is the result of a new study led by Karolinska Institutet published in Alzheimer Research and Therapy. But the researchers are cautious in their interpretations and see the results as a first step in a research journey that may eventually provide the answer.

Down syndrome, a congenital disorder stemming from abnormal cell division and differentiation, is most common in newborns fated to neurodevelopmental delays and other health complications.

A recent study by researchers at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Bar-Ilan University and Vanderbilt University has developed a new paradigm for early stages of type 1 diabetes (T1D), suggesting a new etiology that does not involve viral infection.

The genetic alphabet contains just four letters, referring to the four nucleotides, the biochemical building blocks that comprise all DNA. Scientists have long wondered whether it’s possible to add more letters to this alphabet by creating brand-new nucleotides in the lab, but the utility of this innovation depends on whether or not cells can actually recognize and use artificial nucleotides to make proteins.