A global team of researchers has created an algorithmic tool that can identify existing drugs in order to combat future pandemics. The work, reported in the Cell Press journal Heliyon, offers the possibility of responding more quickly to public-health crises.
Tag: Drug Research
Degrading modified proteins could treat Alzheimer’s, other ‘undruggable’ diseases
A new technique that targets and breaks apart certain proteins — rather than just interfering with them — may offer a pathway toward treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers reporting in ACS Central Science have designed a compound that breaks down a protein closely associated with the disease.
Multiplication on, multiplication off: Targeting an enzymatic switch to develop oncology drugs
Interdisciplinary research highlighted lipid-protein interaction as a new avenue for oncology drug development, demonstrating its functionality by designing small molecule-based inhibitors to target acute myeloid leukemia.
New compound inhibits influenza virus replication
Viruses use the molecular repertoire of the host cell to replicate. Researchers from the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation2 at the University of Bonn, together with Japanese researchers, want to exploit this for the treatment of influenza.
Matching medication to DNA leads to 30% fewer side effects
According to an international group of researchers including a team from the University of Liverpool, patients experience 30% fewer side effects when medication doses are tailored to their DNA.
Overdose deaths involving buprenorphine did not proportionally increase with new flexibilities in prescribing
The proportion of opioid overdose deaths involving buprenorphine, a medication used to treat opioid use disorder, did not increase in the months after prescribing flexibilities were put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new study.
Lab lights way to simple chemical synthesis
Inexpensive iron salts are a key to simplifying the manufacture of essential precursors for drugs and other chemicals, according to scientists at Rice University.
Pharmacotyping of childhood leukemia provides a blueprint for ‘true precision medicine’
Scientists from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital performed the largest study yet examining drug sensitivity in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia across genomic subtypes and its association with treatment response.
New drug offers hope for people with hand osteoarthritis
Tonia Vincent, Professor of Musculoskeletal Biology & Honorary Rheumatologist at Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS), said: ‘Hand osteoarthritis is a common and debilitating medical condition that affects mainly women, especially around the time of the menopause.
Newly identified neuromarker reveals clues about drug and food craving
Craving is known to be a key factor in substance use disorders and can increase the likelihood of future drug use or relapse.

Space and time influence G-protein coupled receptor interactions
By simulating molecular dynamics, scientists from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital revealed how the selectivity or promiscuity of GPCR coupling relies on the location and duration of intermolecular interactions.
Do women age differently from men?
The life expectancy of women is significantly higher than that of men.
With High Costs and Similar Benefits, Use of New Neurology Drugs Is Low
A number of new neurologic medications for diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson’s disease and migraine have received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval over the past decade. However, with most having higher out-of-pocket costs and benefits similar to existing, less expensive drugs, only a small percentage of people with neurologic conditions are being treated with these new drugs, according to a study funded by the American Academy of Neurology and published in the November 30, 2022, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Is ayahuasca safe? New study tallies adverse events
There is a high rate of adverse physical effects and challenging psychological effects from using the plant-based psychoactive ayahuasca, though they are generally not severe, according to a new study published this week in the open-access journal PLOS Global Public Health by Daniel Perkins of University of Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues.
Injections for diabetes, cancer could become unnecessary
Researchers at UC Riverside are paving the way for diabetes and cancer patients to forget needles and injections, and instead take pills to manage their conditions.
Sensing platform for studying in vitro vascular systems opens possibilities for drug testing
The costliness of drug development and the limitations of studying physiological processes in the lab are two separate scientific issues that may share the same solution.
Both types of THC get you high–so why is only one illegal?
One is an illegal drug found in marijuana while the other is marketed as a safe herbal alternative.
Social support promotes rehab participation in mice after spinal cord injury
A research finding in mice that gabapentin improved rehab compliance after spinal cord injury led scientists to a related, unexpected discovery: Injured mice that didn’t receive the drug and declined to exercise by themselves were willing to hop on the treadmill for a group rehab option.
Psychiatrists disagree with U.S. policy on psychoactive drugs
A new national survey reveals considerable differences between psychiatrists’ perceptions about the safety and therapeutic value of certain psychoactive drugs and how those same drugs are categorized under U.S. policy.
Microparticles could be used to deliver “self-boosting” vaccines
Most vaccines, from measles to Covid-19, require a series of multiple shots before the recipient is considered fully vaccinated.

How a Shape-Shifting Receptor Influences Cell Growth
Receptors found on cell surfaces bind to hormones, proteins, and other molecules, helping cells respond to their environment.
Cancer Drug Shows Potential as Treatment for Muscular Dystrophy
Researchers at the University of British Columbia’s School of Biomedical Engineering have discovered that an existing cancer drug could have potential as a treatment for muscular dystrophy.
UNH Research Finds Repurposed Drug Inhibits Enzyme Related to COVID-19
With the end of the pandemic seemingly nowhere in sight, scientists are still very focused on finding new or alternative drugs to treat and stop the spread of COVID-19. In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers at the University of New Hampshire have found that using an already existing drug compound in a new way, known as drug repurposing, could be successful in blocking the activity of a key enzyme of the coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19.
Biological clocks set for skin immunity
Researchers have discovered epidermal immunity from nighttime bacterial invasion in mice when the expression of the CXCL14 signaling protein was higher than during the daytime. The circadian-dependent role of CXCL14 is crucial as it transports important DNA into immune cells.
New Research May Explain Unexpected Effects of Common Painkillers
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen and aspirin are widely used to treat pain and inflammation.
Common diabetes drug not effective against early-stage breast cancer, landmark trial reveals
A widely used and inexpensive Type 2 diabetes drug, once hoped to hold enormous promise in treating breast cancer, does not prevent or stop the spread of the most common forms of the disease, according to new findings.
Combining certain meds with ibuprofen can permanently injure kidneys
Anyone who is taking a diuretic and a renin-angiotensin system (RSA) inhibitor for high blood pressure should be cautious about also taking ibuprofen, according to new research.
Researchers have succeeded in identifying the proteins in the coronavirus that can damage blood vessels
Nearly two years since becoming a global pandemic that has killed millions of people, the mystery of which proteins in the SARS-CoV-2 virus are responsible for severe vascular damage that could even lead to heart attack or stroke has not yet been solved.
Inhibiting targets of SARS-CoV-2 proteases can block infection, study shows
Researchers at the University of Liverpool have shown how SARS-CoV-2 viral proteases attack the host cell, and how this can be targeted to stop virus replication in cell culture using existing drugs.
Engineers grow pancreatic “organoids” that mimic the real thing
MIT engineers, in collaboration with scientists at Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, have developed a new way to grow tiny replicas of the pancreas, using either healthy or cancerous pancreatic cells.
Suicide-Risk Warning on Anti-Seizure Medications Lacks Evidence
An FDA warning on epilepsy drugs may pose greater risk to patients.