As well as the important ethical reasons for minimising animal use in research, the reality is sometimes animals just aren’t that good at predicting human responses.
Cell cultures are often grown in petri dishes.
Wladimir Bulgar/Science Photo Library via Getty Images
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
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
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
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.
Candidiasis is a severe fungal infection that can spread easily in medical facilities.
Atlas of Pulmonary Pathology/Flickr
Multidrug-resistant fungal infections are an emerging global health threat. Figuring out how fungi evade treatments offers new avenues to counter resistance.
Illustration of an autophagosome (light blue double-membrane to the right) engulfing cellular material.
David S. Goodsell and Daniel Klionsky/RCSB PDB-101
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
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
Chengpeng Chen, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
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)
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
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.
Constraining drugs to a single function in the body may be limiting their full potential.
Israel Sebastian/Moment via Getty Images
Despite technological advancements, many challenges remain in getting a drug from lab to pharmacy shelf. Reframing what is a “medicine” could expand treatment options for researchers and patients.
Lack of pharmaceutical industry interest has stymied the development of new male contraception options.
filo/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images
There hasn’t been a new form of male birth control since the 1980s. More contraception options for all partners could help reduce the rate of unintended pregnancies.
From thalidomide to resveratrol, molecules with the exact same chemical properties can have drastically different effects in the body depending on how they’re arranged in space.
Around 75% of antibiotics, including penicillin and amphotericin B, are derived from natural products.
Aphiwat Chuangchoem/EyeEm via Getty Images
With the dual threats of antibiotic resistance and emerging pandemics, finding new drugs becomes even more urgent. A trove of medicines may be lying under our nose.
Depending on how you look at it, drugs that can act on multiple targets could be a boon instead of a challenge.
Andrew Brookes/Image Source via Getty Images
Gregory Way, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Many approved drugs work on the body in ways that researchers still aren’t entirely clear about. Seeing this as an opportunity instead of a flaw may lead to better treatments for complex conditions.
A new polymer could help the medicine go down easier.
Hiroshi Watanabe/DigitalVision via Getty Images
While pills are more practical than injections or infusions, digestion in the stomach prevents many drugs from being taken orally. Better drug design could change this.
While pills come in many shapes and sizes, they all eventually reach your bloodstream and travel throughout your body.
Vadim Sazhniev/iStock via Getty Images