THE MEDICAL NEWS

The first study assessing the real-world commercial roll-out of gene therapies for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia offers lessons learned to inform best practices as manufacturers and medical centers prepare to meet growing demand for gene therapies in the coming years.

Patients who underwent hematopoietic cell transplantation for sickle cell disease saw high rates of survival without disease symptoms and low rates of severe side effects or complications years after their procedure, according to a new study.

A new study finds that only one in three patients visiting emergency departments (EDs) for severe pain associated with sickle cell disease received appropriate opioid-based pain-relieving medications within the first hour as recommended by the American Society of Hematology (ASH) and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI).

Interactions among viruses can help them succeed inside their hosts or impart vulnerabilities that make them easier to treat. Scientists are learning the ways viruses mingle inside the cells they infect, as well as the consequences of their socializing.

In November, The Lancet, one of the world's most esteemed medical journals, launched a new monthly series of case studies that goes beyond clinical diagnoses to illuminate the social and cultural forces that contribute to each patient's condition.

Preliminary results from two trials of the gene therapy exagamglogene autotemcel (exa-cel) suggest the therapy offers an effective cure for beta-thalassemia and sickle cell disease in children younger than 12.

Since 2000, most countries – across all income levels and regions – have made concurrent progress in expanding health service coverage and reducing the financial hardship associated with health costs, according to a new joint report from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank Group.

WHO Member States today ended their latest round of intensive negotiations on the world's first Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system.

An international collaboration led by Cornell University researchers used a combination of psilocybin and the rabies virus to map how – and where – the psychedelic compound rewires the connections in the brain.

Recent weeks have brought good news about vaccines, with studies indicating that flu vaccination reduces heart disease, shingles vaccines can prevent or slow dementia, and a single human papilloma virus shot protects a girl from cervical cancer for the rest of her life.