❤️ Health Tech
Health Tech, or digital health, helps us understand and take control of our own health. But we also cover more traditional health news like medicines, vaccines and medical procedures.
💉 New vaccine reduced Lyme disease cases by 70 percent in clinical trial
Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Valneva report that their Lyme disease vaccine LB6V reduced the number of disease cases by around 70 percent compared with placebo. It would become the first approved Lyme disease vaccine for humans in nearly three decades.
🧬 From 13% to 88%: This many survive pancreatic cancer thanks to new vaccine
Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers. Fewer than 13 percent of those diagnosed survive more than five years. But after receiving a new mRNA vaccine, nearly 90 percent are still alive six years later.
😶🌫️ The risk of developing dementia at any given age has dropped sharply
The share of older people with dementia at any given age has fallen by two-thirds over 40 years. An 85-year-old in 2024 has one-third the risk of having dementia compared to an 85-year-old in 1984.
🪱 Hookworm vaccine reduces infection in trial – could help millions with anemia
Hookworm infects more than 100 million people and is a major cause of iron-deficiency anemia, particularly in children and pregnant women. A phase 2 trial shows that a vaccine candidate substantially reduces the intensity of infection.
💉 GLP-1 drugs, such as Ozempic, show positive effects against at least ten different diseases
The FDA has approved GLP-1 drugs for the treatment of kidney disease, heart disease, liver disease and sleep apnea – in addition to diabetes and obesity. Studies show early signs of positive effects also in cancer, asthma, fertility, dementia and inflammation.
🧒 First vaccine that protects children from deadly E. coli infections
ETVAX is the first vaccine to show significant protection against E. coli infections in humans. The vaccine reduced moderate-to-severe diarrhea in infants under nine months by 68 percent. A phase 3 trial with 5,800 infants from low- and middle-income countries is about to begin.
👁️ Small chip in the eye restores sight to the blind
A 2-millimeter implant under the retina has restored vision in 26 of 32 blind patients. European launch is expected later this year, which would make PRIMA the first brain-computer interface product for vision to reach the market.
🔍 AI agent screened nearly 2,000 genes and found new pathways against gut disease
Eubiota is an AI agent system that autonomously studies the gut microbiome. By analyzing over 10,000 scientific papers in hours, it screened 1,945 bacterial genes and discovered a DNA repair mechanism that helps gut bacteria survive inflammatory stress.
🍻 GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic reduce risk of substance abuse and addiction
A large study of more than 600,000 U.S. veterans shows that GLP-1 drugs were associated with a 14 percent lower risk of developing new substance use disorders. Among people with existing substance use disorders, overdoses dropped by 40 percent and substance-related deaths were cut in half.