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Articles on Drug development

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Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs Chair Senator David Richards and Deputy Chair Senator Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu at a news conference releasing the committee’s report on the need for psychedelic-assisted therapy for veterans on Nov. 8, 2023 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Canada owes its veterans new mental health tools: Access to psychedelic therapies is overdue

One in seven Canadian veterans is living with PTSD. Developing a psychedelics research program for veterans should be a public health priority.
Cell cultures are often grown in petri dishes. Wladimir Bulgar/Science Photo Library via Getty Images

Lab-grown meat techniques aren’t new – cell cultures are common tools in science, but bringing them up to scale to meet society’s demand for meat will require further development

Cell cultures are common tools in biology and drug development. Bringing them up to scale to meet the meat needs of societies will require further development.
Opioid neurotransmitters are located in many areas of the body, including the brain, spine and gut. ALIOUI Mohammed Elamine/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Your body naturally produces opioids without causing addiction or overdose – studying how this process works could help reduce the side effects of opioid drugs

Unlike opioid drugs like morphine and fentanyl that travel throughout the body, the opioids your body produces are released in small quantities to specific locations.
Newly developed molecular drills may be able to fight treatment-resistant fungal infections like Candida auris. Dr_Microbe/iStock via Getty Images

Drilling down on treatment-resistant fungi with molecular machines

Fungal infections can be among the hardest to treat, and since the pandemic began they’ve become only more common. To prevent future antifungal resistance, scientists have developed tiny molecular drills.
Vaccines help protect farm animals from various diseases. dusanpetkovic/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Vaccines using mRNA can protect farm animals against diseases traditional ones may not – and there are safeguards to ensure they won’t end up in your food

While mRNA vaccines are designed to last longer in the body than mRNA molecules typically would, they are also tested to ensure they are eliminated from livestock long before milking or slaughter.
Illustration of an autophagosome (light blue double-membrane to the right) engulfing cellular material. David S. Goodsell and Daniel Klionsky/RCSB PDB-101

Cells routinely self-cannibalize to take out their trash, aiding in survival and disease prevention

Cells degrade and recycle damaged parts of themselves through a process called autophagy. When this “self-devouring” goes awry, it may promote cancer and neurodegenerative disease.
Broad protection from a universal flu vaccine could replace seasonal flu shots. Flavio Coelho/Moment via Getty Images

How do you make a universal flu vaccine? A microbiologist explains the challenges, and how mRNA could offer a promising solution

Annual flu vaccines are in a constant race against a rapidly mutating virus that may one day cause the next pandemic. A one-time vaccine protecting against all variants could give humanity a leg up.
The lung-on-a-chip can mimic both the physical and mechanical qualities of a human lung. Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University/Flickr

Organ-on-a-chip models allow researchers to conduct studies closer to real-life conditions – and possibly grease the drug development pipeline

Successes in the lab mostly don’t translate to people. Research models that better mimic the human body could close the gap.
The pharma industry warned that if proposed new prescription price guidelines go ahead, drug launches would be delayed and ‘Canadian patients will be deprived of potentially life-saving new medicines.’ (Shutterstock)

How the pharmaceutical industry uses disinformation to undermine drug price reform

The pharma industry claims lower prescription drug prices will mean less access to new medication for Canadians. It’s an old threat that pits profits against patients’ rights to affordable drugs.
Nanoparticles (white disks) can be used to deliver treatment to cells (blue). Brenda Melendez and Rita Serda/National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health

Nanomedicines for various diseases are in development – but research facilities produce vastly inconsistent results on how the body will react to them

The proteins that cover nanoparticles are essential to understanding how they work in the body. Across 17 proteomics facilities in the US, less than 2% of the identified proteins were identical.

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