Breaking World Pharma News

Researchers discover Achilles' heel of antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Fri, 23 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0200

Even highly antibiotic-resistant bacteria become more vulnerable when their cell wall transport system is disrupted, according to a new study from Umeå University in Sweden. The discovery reveals a previously overlooked weakness that could help researchers develop new strategies to combat antibiotic resistance.

“The search for new antibiotics remains crucial, but we also need smarter ways to extend the lifespan of the antibiotics we already have.

Lactation drug could reduce breast cancer risk after childbirth

Thu, 22 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0200

An international team of scientists has found that a lactation drug could reduce the risk of breast cancer in mothers after childbirth.

Cabergoline, a medication used to stop milk production after pregnancy loss or when breastfeeding is not possible, is generally well tolerated by patients with few side effects. But it may also offer unexpected benefits.

Google.org awards $2.3 million USD to University of Toronto researchers to advance AI-powered peptide drug discovery

Wed, 21 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0200

A group of scientists led by Joseph Brown, assistant professor at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, has received $2.3 million USD in funding to develop a database and AI training model to identify peptides with therapeutic potential. The project is funded through the Google.org Impact Challenge: AI for Science initiative.

The newly funded initiative, OpenPep, will lead to an open access database that will allow researchers to use artificial intelligence (AI) to predict which peptides will bind to target proteins.

FDA issues final guidance on Prescription drug apps and software

Tue, 20 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0200

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today released final guidance establishing a clear framework for how drug companies can develop, distribute, and label apps used alongside their prescription medicines. The guidance ends longstanding uncertainty by providing recommendations about when app content is subject to FDA submission requirements, when an app should be mentioned on a drug’s official label, and what companies should submit to the agency.

Unsuspected discovery of abnormal antibodies could explain pediatric cancer

Mon, 19 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0200

A team of scientists in Norway has found evidence for a new, previously unknown mechanism for the development of cancer in children: they seem to produce an unusual amount of aberrant antibodies against the building blocks that make up the DNA repair machinery, a diverse set of hundreds of proteins which identify and correct damage or errors in the genome. This important discovery could open the door to the early screening of small children, in the hope of ultimately preventing them from developing such pediatric cancers years in their teenage years.

How cancer cells lose dangerous DNA

Fri, 16 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0200

Aggressive tumors often contain large amounts of exchromosomal DNA. Removing this DNA from the nuclei of cancer cells could improve patient outcomes, an international team led by Anton Henssen of the Experimental and Clinical Research Center reports in Nature Genetics.

Cells from rapidly growing, highly metastatic tumors often contain numerous rings of extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA).

Abbott launches 'Mind Your Behind' campaign to encourage Americans 45+ to screen for colorectal cancer

Thu, 15 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0200

Abbott, the global healthcare leader, launched “Mind Your Behind,” a new Cologuard Plus® awareness campaign featuring baseball legend and three-time MVP Albert “The Machine” Pujols and catcher for the Seattle Mariners Cal “The Big Dumper” Raleigh to encourage adults to prioritize colorectal cancer screening.

Nearly one billion people could live with osteoarthritis by 2050

Wed, 14 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0200

Almost one billion people are projected to be living with osteoarthritis by 2050, up from about 600 million in 2023, and there remains no cure and no drug that can stop or slow the disease, according to a new roadmap published in The Lancet.

A Curtin University-led group of international researchers is calling for stronger health policy action to arrest the growing global disability burden.

Pharmaceutical company marketing negatively influences prescribing

Tue, 13 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0200

Doctors’ prescribing habits are heavily influenced by payments, gifts, and free meals from pharmaceutical companies, leading to more expensive, less appropriate and more drugs being prescribed, a new Cochrane review finds. This can seriously harm both individual patients and health systems.

Pharmaceutical companies use a variety of strategies to market and promote their drugs.

NIH grant awarded to treat breast cancer with bacteria

Mon, 12 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0200

A scientist at Weill Cornell Medicine is working with colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on new, complementary research efforts engineering therapeutic Salmonella to target critical gaps in treatment for drug-resistant triple-negative breast cancers. The team has received a five-year, $13.1 million grant, the first of its kind for bacteria cancer therapies awarded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health,

Model reveals strategies to modify the tumor microenvironment and improve cancer therapy

Fri, 09 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0200

Researchers from Mass General Brigham and the University of Cyprus have developed a sophisticated mathematical model to better understand how the tumor microenvironment affects the delivery and effectiveness of a new type of cancer therapy called an immunomodulatory antibody-drug conjugate (IM-ADC).

Blocking immune cells' path into brain limits neurodegeneration

Thu, 08 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0200

There is no treatment available today to stop the death of brain cells in neurodegenerative diseases known as tauopathies, including Alzheimer’s disease, in which twisted clumps of a protein called tau accumulate in the brain. Cells near those clumps begin to die after tau accumulates, but growing evidence suggests that much of the damage doesn’t come from the protein directly.

Frequent cannabis use tied to more severe epilepsy

Wed, 07 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0200

Adults with hard-to-treat epilepsy who used cannabis most days had more than twice as many convulsive seizures per year and more rapidly became resistant to antiseizure medications compared with nonusers, according to new research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The study appears in the journal Epilepsia.

A new technique could accelerate the development of RNA therapies

Tue, 06 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0200

RNA vaccines and other nucleic acid therapeutics are typically packaged within fatty molecules known as lipid nanoparticles (LNPs). MIT researchers have now come up with a way to produce these particles much more quickly, and with more precise control over their size and shape.

The concentration of pharmaceuticals in the blood in under 10 minutes

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0200

Minutes count when a patient with a stroke arrives at the hospital emergency room. Doctors stand ready to treat, but whether the blood clot can be removed medically depends on what medication the patient is already taking. Even if a blood sample is rushed through the laboratory, results can take up to an hour to arrive.

Can AI find drugs to fight infection?

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0200

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a bacterial pathogen that causes life-threatening infections, including pneumonia and meningitis. These infections are commonly treated with antibiotics, but antibiotics are becoming less effective against S. pneumoniae over time due to changes in the pathogen that cause drug resistance. This phenomenon, called antimicrobial resistance, is resulting in significant healthcare costs and deaths around the world.

How interferon changes cancerous blood stem cells

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 10:00:00 +0200

The biologic drug interferon-alpha can benefit patients with blood cancers called myeloproliferative neoplasms by forcing mutant blood stem cells to become shorter-lived white blood cells, according to a study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. Because the broad activity of interferon-alpha can induce significant side effects,

New US Medicare pricing policies could reshape global pharmaceutical markets

Wed, 30 Sep 2026 15:17:12 +0200

New US Medicare pricing policies could reshape global pharmaceutical markets, potentially driving up prices and delaying medicine launches worldwide, study suggests. A new modelling study published in The Lancet suggests that US Medicare's new 'Most-Favoured-Nation' pricing policy [1], which ties what Medicare pays for medicines to prices charged in other high-income countries,

Pfizer advances today's cancer care and tomorrow's potential breakthroughs at ESMO

Tue, 29 Sep 2026 10:00:00 +0200

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) will present data from 45 company-sponsored, investigator-sponsored, and collaborative research abstracts at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress, taking place October 23-27, 2026 in Madrid, Spain. The presentations include 11 oral presentations spanning Pfizer’s established medicines and late-stage pipeline across its disease areas of focus, including breast cancer, genitourinary cancers, and lung cancer.

Experimental study points to systemic sclerosis treatment

Mon, 28 Sep 2026 10:00:00 +0200

Investigators at Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University used an experimental drug to reverse the effects of systemic sclerosis, a serious autoimmune disease. The study, conducted in a laboratory, was published in JCI Insight.

Systemic sclerosis, also called scleroderma, is a chronic, life-threatening condition that scars the skin, lungs, heart and other organs.