For many people, the day doesn’t start until their coffee mug is empty. Coffee is often thought to make you feel more alert, so people drink it to wake themselves up and improve their efficiency. Portuguese scientists studied coffee-drinkers to understand whether that wakefulness effect is dependent on the properties of caffeine, or whether it’s about the experience of drinking coffee. “There is a common expectation that coffee increases alertness and psychomotor functioning,” said Prof Nuno Sousa of the University of Minho, corresponding author of the study in Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience and Field Chief Editor of the journal. “When you get to understand better the mechanisms underlying a biological phenomenon, you open pathways for exploring the factors that may modulate it and even the potential benefits of that mechanism.” A caffeine kickstart The scientists recruited people who drank a minimum of one cup of coffee per day and asked ...
Dive Brief Illumina is laying off staff and closing a facility in San Diego as part of its push to cut its annual spending by $100 million, according to a regulatory filing. The layoffs, which STAT reports will affect 10% of R&D staff, come weeks after Francis deSouza resigned as CEO in the wake of a proxy battle with activist investor Carl Icahn. As well as exiting the San Diego site, Illumina is “evaluating its options” for another California campus in Foster City. The layoffs reportedly affect those two California sites, plus facilities in Wisconsin, Singapore and the United Kingdom. Dive Insight In April, Illumina outlined plans to reduce spending by $100 million this year. The goal was to improve margins and free up cash to invest in high-growth areas. Now, the company has revealed what the plan will mean for its workforce. Layoffs began last week and additional workforce ...
People who have just one or two drinks per day are not protected against endocrine conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. Alcohol consumption is a significant public health concern because it is related to many medical conditions such as diabetes, obesity, liver conditions and heart disease. While it is widely accepted that excessive alcohol consumption causes a wide range of health issues, whether modest alcohol consumption has beneficial health effects remains controversial. Tianyuan Lu, (Ph.D., McGill University in Québec, Canada) said, “Some research has indicated that moderate drinkers may be less likely to develop obesity or diabetes compared to non-drinkers and heavy drinkers. However, our study shows that even light-to-moderate alcohol consumption (no more than one standard drink per day) does not protect against obesity and type 2 diabetes in the general ...
Pfizer’s Litfulo (ritlecitinib) has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as the first treatment option for patients aged 12 years and older with severe alopecia areata. Affecting almost seven million people in the US and approximately 147 million people globally, alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease characterised by patchy or complete hair loss on the scalp, face, or body. The condition can develop at any age, with nearly 20% of patients diagnosed before the age of 18. Litfulo, which is a one-daily oral kinase inhibitor, is thought to work by blocking the activity of signalling molecules and immune cells believed to contribute to the loss of hair in patients with alopecia areata. Angela Hwang, chief commercial officer, president, Global Biopharmaceuticals Business, Pfizer, said: “Litfulo is an important treatment advancement for alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that previously had no FDA-approved options for adolescents and limited options ...
Sanofi and Sobi’s once-weekly haemophilia A treatment has demonstrated highly effective bleed protection in children with severe forms of the disease, according to late-stage data presented at the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) annual meeting. The phase 3 XTEND-Kids study evaluated a once-weekly 50IU/kg dose of the factor VIII replacement therapy, Altuviiio, for 52 weeks in previously treated patients aged under 12 years. The oral presentation at ISTH detailed results from the study and confirmed that the therapy met the primary endpoint, with no inhibitor development to factor VIII detected. Key secondary endpoints were also met, including annualised bleeding rate and maintenance of factor VIII activity above pre-specified levels. Sanofi added that the therapy was well-tolerated and demonstrated a safety profile similar to the phase 3 XTEND-1 trial, confirming safety and efficacy in both adults and children. Haemophilia A is a rare, lifelong bleeding disorder in which a ...
Eli Lilly’s experimental drug helped patients lose up to 24% of their weight after almost a year, the highest reduction seen in the obesity treatment space to date, according to new mid-stage clinical trial results released Monday. The phase two trial followed 338 adults who were obese or overweight and either received the pharmaceutical company’s injection, retatrutide, or a placebo each week. Patients who took a 12-milligram dose of retatrutide lost 17.5% of their body weight, or 41 pounds, on average after 24 weeks, compared with 1.6% for those who received the placebo. Patients lost 24.2%, or 58 pounds, on average after 48 weeks. Those who took the placebo lost 2.1% of their body weight after that same time period. The trial’s researchers said average weight loss did not appear to plateau after 48 weeks, suggesting a longer study could show even more. Eli Lilly is currently recruiting patients for ...
Lisata Therapeutics aims to start a new Phase Ib/IIa trial of its lead candidate drug LSTA1 in glioblastoma later this year. The trial will study LSTA1’s use alongside the standard of care (SOC) versus the SOC and placebo. According to Lisata CEO David Mazzo, added that the company aims to enrol 30 subjects in the active arm in approximately one year. The study will focus on efficacy endpoints such as progression-free survival and overall survival. The trial will take place in the Baltic region, specifically in Estonia and Latvia. This was initially shaped by the company’s collaboration with a research group from Estonia’s University of Tartu Mazzo commented that Lisata aims to have data from this trial ready by mid-2025. The company’s lead candidate LSTA1 is a cyclic peptide that is designed to modify the tumour microenvironment by binding to alpha-V integrins expressed in tumours, per the company’s website. Once ...
By Tristan Manalac Pictured: Pfizer sign on building/Tobias Arhelger/Adobe Stock Pfizer is discontinuing the clinical development of its investigational GLP-1 receptor agonist lotiglipron, which was being developed for obesity and Type 2 diabetes mellitus, the company announced Monday. The decision to cut lotiglipron from Pfizer’s pipeline comes after the company detected heightened concentrations of liver transaminases in patients treated with the investigational drug. Lotiglipron was being evaluated in two Phase I drug-drug interaction studies and one Phase II trial. Pharmacokinetic data from the two Phase I studies also contributed to the candidate’s discontinuation. None of the patients developed liver-related symptoms or similar side effects and neither required medical intervention. Pfizer also did not document signs of liver failure among these patients. The company will present lotiglipron data at an upcoming conference or will submit it for publication in peer-reviewed journals. With lotiglipron’s discontinuation, Pfizer will instead focus on the clinical ...
By Tristan Manalac Pictured: A Biogen building/courtesy of PictureDesignSwiss/shutterstock After a June 12 shakeup of Biogen’s board of directors that included three directors foregoing their re-election, the company announced Monday that shareholders elected Susan Langer, who currently serves as president of Souffle Therapeutics, to the board. Langer will serve on the board for a one-year term, according to the press release. She was nominated by Alex Denner, a former member of the board who did not stand for re-election. According to reporting by Endpoints News and STAT News, Langer is Denner’s romantic partner and the mother of his child. BioPharma Dive reported that during Monday’s annual meeting of stockholders, Biogen management was asked why the company didn’t disclose this potential conflict of interest. Caroline Dorsa, the new chair, replied that Langer’s “personal matters obviously are much less relevant than what she brings to this board.” Langer has previously worked at ...
There is an epidemic of loneliness and isolation today, and the consequences can be deadly, researchers say. Folks who reported that they were socially isolated or felt lonely were more likely to die early from all causes including cancer, according to a sweeping review of 90 studies that included more than 2.2 million people from around the globe. Exactly how loneliness or social isolation affects a person’s health and well-being is not fully understood, but many theories exist, the researchers reported. People who are socially isolated or lonely may be less likely to eat a healthy diet and get regular exercise and more likely to smoke and consume alcohol. In addition, social isolation is linked to inflammation and weakened immune systems. People who are socially isolated may be less likely to receive medical care due to their smaller social networks. Social isolation and loneliness are not one and the same, ...
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