Google has started rolling out its AI chatbot Bard, but it is only available to certain users and they have to be over the age of 18. Unlike its viral rival ChatGPT, it can access up-to-date information from the internet and has a “Google it” button which accesses search. It also namechecks its sources for facts, such as Wikipedia. But Google warned Bard would have “limitations” and said it might share misinformation and display bias. This is because it “learns” from real-world information, in which those biases currently exist – meaning it is possible for stereotypes and false information to show up in its responses. How do chatbots work? AI chatbots are programmed to answer questions online using natural, human-like language. They can write anything from speeches and marketing copy to computer code and student essays. When ChatGPT launched in November 2022, it had more than one million users within ...
March 20 (Reuters) – Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) expects to price its COVID-19 vaccine at around $130 per dose in the U.S. going forward as purchases move to the private sector from the government, the company’s president Stephen Hoge said in an interview on Monday. “There are different customers negotiating different prices right now, which is why it’s a little bit complicated,” Hoge said ahead of a Congressional hearing run by Democratic U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders on Moderna’s pricing plans. Moderna previously said it was considering pricing its COVID vaccine in a range of $110 to $130 per dose in the United States, similar to the range Pfizer Inc (PFE.N) said in October it was considering for its rival COVID shots sold in partnership with BioNTech (22UAy.DE). Hoge said the government’s Medicare health plan for seniors pays $70 per dose for the seasonal influenza vaccine. That there were two to three times more hospitalizations and deaths ...
March 22 (Reuters) – Roche (ROG.S) and Eli Lilly and Co (LLY.N) are joining forces to develop a blood test for Alzheimer’s disease, and plan to kick off a two-year clinical trial involving hundreds of volunteers with the aim of winning U.S. regulatory approval. The effort, unveiled in a statement on Wednesday, comes as Lilly as well as Eisai (4523.T) and Biogen (BIIB.O) are gearing up to sell drugs aimed at slowing the advance of the mind-robbing illness, but their use will require a diagnosis at earlier disease stages than is the norm today. Roche Holding AG would recruit several hundred volunteers with early signs of dementia over the next 18 to 24 months with trial data potentially ready for a U.S. regulatory filing in 2025, Bruce Jordan, leader of Personalized Healthcare Solutions at Roche Diagnostics, told Reuters. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has asked Roche to recruit a significant number of patients at primary care facilities ...
Research finds use of progestogen is associated with a 20-30% higher risk but this falls after no longer taking it All types of hormonal contraceptives carry a small increased risk of breast cancer, according to research establishing a link with progestogen pills for the first time. The use of progestogen is associated with a 20-30% higher risk of breast cancer, data analysis by University of Oxford researchers has established. This builds on previous work showing that use of the combined contraceptive pill, which contains oestrogen and progestogen, is associated with a small increase in the risk of developing breast cancer that declines after stopping taking it. Claire Knight of Cancer Research UK, which funded the study, said the risk was small and should not discourage most people from taking the pill. She said: “Women who are most likely to be using contraception are under the age of 50, where the risk of ...
Pfizer and Astellas have reported positive top line results from a phase 3 trial of their androgen receptor signalling inhibitor, Xtandi (enzalutamide), in non-metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (nmHSPC) with high-risk biochemical recurrence (BCR). The medicine is already a standard of care in the US for metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC), metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) and non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (nmCRPC), and for one or more of these indications in more than 100 countries. Compared with those indications, nmHSPC represents an earlier stage of disease, in which there is no detectable evidence of the cancer spreading to distant parts of the body, and it still responds to testosterone-lowering treatments. However, some patients remain at a higher risk for BCR following primary treatment, which may result in metastases. The EMBARK trial met its primary endpoint, demonstrating a statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in metastasis-free survival (MFS) for patients treated daily ...
Sanofi has said it will cut the US list price of its most widely prescribed insulin by 78%, following similar moves by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly earlier this month. The changes will come into effect in January 2024 and will also include a $35 price cap on the same insulin, Lantus (insulin glargine injection), for those with commercial insurance. Around 8.4 million of the 37 million people in the US with diabetes use insulin, but the rising cost of the lifesaving medicine has been a pressing concern for many patients. Sanofi, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly produce over 90% of the US insulin supply and have come under recent fire over the rising costs of their products. In January, California attorney general Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against the three drugmakers and leading pharmacy benefit managers for allegedly using their market power to overcharge patients for insulin. Other states ...
Sri Lanka has secured a $2.9bn (£2.3bn) bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as it faces its worst economic crisis since independence. The deal has been nearly a year in the making and a lifeline for the country that has billions of dollars in loans. Foreign minister Ali Sabry told the BBC the government will raise funds by restructuring state-owned enterprises and privatising the national airline. However, analysts warned Sri Lanka still faces a tough road ahead. The country’s economy has been hit hard by the pandemic, rising energy prices, populist tax cuts and inflation of more than 50%. A shortage of medicines, fuel and other essentials also helped to push the cost of living to record highs, triggering nationwide protests which overthrew the ruling government in 2022. As a result the country defaulted on its debts with international lenders last May for ...
Unhealthy food cravings in adulthood can be traced all the way back to fetal development, according to new research from Rutgers University. The study, published this week in Molecular Metabolism, shows that exposure to excess calories while in the womb can alter one’s brain and spur adult overeating. The researchers made the connection by studying 6 pregnant mice, then their combined litters of nearly 50 mice pups through adulthood. They began by letting 3 mice become obese on unlimited high-fat foods during pregnancy and breastfeeding, while keeping the other 3 pregnant mice slim from a diet of healthy food. The team found that the mice pups born to the obese mothers overate more than the mice pups born to the lean mothers when given access to unhealthy chow. The findings suggest that children who are born to mothers who were overweight during pregnancy and nursing may similarly struggle later in life to moderate ...
‘Long-tailed macaques at risk of being killed, or laundered or re-trafficked if returned to Cambodia, animal welfare groups say’ More than a thousand Cambodian monkeys at the center of a US government investigation into wildlife trafficking are at risk of being killed or returned to their country of origin, laundered and re-trafficked, animal welfare groups say. The monkeys’ plight first came to light last year when the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) asked the animal rights organization Peta about finding a sanctuary for 360 monkeys. Born Free USA, and the US Department of Justice (DoJ) later joined the discussions and the number of monkeys increased to over 1,000 as talks progressed. Last week, however, discussions stalled when Peta learned on 13 March that the monkeys would instead be flown out of the US. Under US law the monkeys can only return to their country of origin, Cambodia, said Dr Lisa Jones-Engel of Peta, ...
Researchers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have found that a combination of two drugs may be effective in treating non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). NSCLC is the most common type of lung cancer and accounts for approximately 85% of all lung cancer cases. The study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, involved analyzing data from over 1,000 patients with NSCLC. The researchers identified a group of genes that were associated with resistance to immunotherapy, a type of cancer treatment that uses the body’s immune system to fight cancer cells. The researchers then tested a combination of two drugs, a checkpoint inhibitor and a targeted therapy, in mouse models of NSCLC. The checkpoint inhibitor works by releasing the brakes on the immune system, allowing it to attack cancer cells. The targeted therapy works by inhibiting a protein that is overexpressed in many types of cancer ...
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