https://medicalxpress.com/medications-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Clinical pharmacology A major clinical trial involving 410 people with early Parkinson's disease has found no clinical benefit from nicotinamide riboside (NR), a compound that increases cellular levels of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD). The findings are published in JAMA. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-nad-boosting-treatment-parkinson-benefit.html Thu, 08 Oct 2026 17:40:14 EDT news710696521 The pathogen Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) is naturally present in the intestines of many people. When present in small numbers, it usually causes no symptoms. Treatment with broad-spectrum antibiotics can severely disrupt the balance of the healthy gut microbiome, allowing the bacterium to multiply unchecked. The result is acute intestinal inflammation, which can also become chronic. Such infections with C. difficile (CDI) are among the leading causes of antibiotic-associated diarrhea. Since the bacteria release toxins that can lead to dangerous, sometimes life-threatening intestinal inflammation with high relapse rates, new therapeutic approaches are urgently needed. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-natural-compound-difficile-largely-healthy.html Thu, 08 Oct 2026 16:20:04 EDT news710693581 Cannabinol is a popular ingredient in over-the-counter sleep products, marketed as a gentle, plant-derived way to unwind at the end of the day. But new research conducted at the University of Connecticut suggests consumers should use it with caution. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-common-herbal-aid-addictive-potential.html Thu, 08 Oct 2026 12:00:16 EDT news710678461 New research shows the efficacy and safety of hydroxyurea treatment for sickle cell anemia at four low-income sites in Africa, with no increase in clinically diagnosed infections. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-children-sickle-cell-safely-hydroxyurea.html Wed, 07 Oct 2026 18:30:11 EDT news710587862 For millions of years, parasitic worms have had to survive inside animals without being destroyed by their hosts' immune systems. To do that, they have evolved remarkably effective ways of dampening the immune response. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-parasitic-worms-key-immune-diseases.html Wed, 07 Oct 2026 14:20:04 EDT news710596981 A research team has developed an anticancer treatment platform that simultaneously targets cancer cells and the surrounding cells that support them while blocking communication between the two. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-experimental-cancer-treatment-disrupts-cell.html Wed, 07 Oct 2026 12:40:01 EDT news710595061 Taking opioids for years does not seem to reduce pain or improve functioning in people with chronic back pain, according to a new Northwestern University study that compared 70 long-term opioid users with 70 similar patients not taking opioids. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-years-opioid-chronic-pain.html Wed, 07 Oct 2026 11:20:06 EDT news710590621 Chronic pain can continue long after an initial injury. When a nerve outside the brain and spinal cord (a peripheral nerve) is damaged and does not heal properly, it keeps sending constant pain signals. Over time, this nonstop bombardment of pain signals changes how your spinal cord and brain process information as sensory and emotion-associated circuits become hyperreactive, turning up the volume on pain. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-blocking-nerve-protein-chronic-pain.html Tue, 06 Oct 2026 14:00:11 EDT news710494423 Many pregnant women develop fungal infections, which are often treated with widely used azole-based antifungal medicines. A new study involving researchers from the DTU National Food Institute and Copenhagen University Hospital (Rigshospitalet) suggests that the use of these medicines during pregnancy may be associated with changes in fetal hormone production, with effects persisting in children after birth. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-antifungal-pregnancy-link-hormone-babies.html Tue, 06 Oct 2026 13:20:18 EDT news710510761 Understanding and treating chronic neuropathic pain has remained challenging due to its complex nature. New research from the lab of Clifford Woolf, MB, BCh, Ph.D., at Boston Children's Hospital's FM Kirby Neurobiology Center describes a novel approach for reducing pain by disrupting interactions within pain-sensing nerve cells called nociceptors. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-nonopioid-approach-neuropathic-pain-disrupts.html Tue, 06 Oct 2026 11:00:09 EDT news710436962 Antimalarial drugs are designed to protect people from malaria, but they may also affect the mosquitoes exposed to them during blood meals. A new Yale study, published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, investigates the impact of these medications on mosquitoes, laying the groundwork for future research into how the drugs may influence the malaria parasites developing within them. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-antimalarial-drug-persists-mosquitoes-days.html Tue, 06 Oct 2026 09:20:04 EDT news710495761 A cancer drug currently being tested in patients may have entered clinical trials based on an incorrect understanding of how it works, according to a new study led by the University of Sydney in collaboration with Goethe University, Oxford University and the Institute of Cancer Research, London. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-cancer-trial-drug-differently-scientists.html Tue, 06 Oct 2026 05:00:08 EDT news710437321 Exposure to GLP-1 weight-loss and diabetes drugs around conception is not linked to a clearly detectable increase in adverse outcomes for mothers or babies, according to the largest study of its kind, involving more than 2.1 million pregnancies and led by researchers at City St George's. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-pregnancy-glp-exposure-conception-largest.html Mon, 05 Oct 2026 12:00:09 EDT news710419321 What if checking medication levels were as simple as enjoying a lollipop? A candy-coated device called Lollylab could provide the answer. In ACS Sensors, researchers describe how the lollipop's stem transfers saliva to a sensor that measures acetaminophen levels. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-candy-coated-lollylab-saliva-medication.html Mon, 05 Oct 2026 09:20:13 EDT news710410561 Inflammatory conditions in the brain, including traumatic brain injury and degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, could be targeted with an existing drug thanks to new research that shows it can work in brain cells. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-brain-tissue-surgery-reveals-potential.html Sun, 04 Oct 2026 19:10:02 EDT news710161682 Cut the power, and the machine stops. That was part of the motivation behind a four-year effort to map all the proteins in the mitochondria—often called the powerhouse of the cell—of the parasites that cause sleeping sickness, giardiasis, leishmaniasis and babesiosis, diseases that together affect nearly a billion people every year. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-parasite-mitochondria-reveals-ancient-pathways.html Sat, 03 Oct 2026 15:00:01 EDT news710093256 Details of a new injection that targets fat cells will be released at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Milan, Italy (Sept. 28–Oct. 2). Studies show that the new drug, CBL-514, reduces levels of subcutaneous and visceral fat. The data also suggest that it helps limit weight regain after people stop taking GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs (GLP1-RAs), says Dr. W. Timothy Garvey of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-weight-loss-fat-cells-cbl.html Fri, 02 Oct 2026 15:00:05 EDT news710165161 Two structurally modified compounds derived from an anti-inflammatory metabolite demonstrated enhanced anti-inflammatory activity in experimental ulcerative colitis in mice and human tissue, offering an underexplored drug discovery opportunity for this chronic inflammatory disease, according to a study led by researchers in the Institute for Biomedical Sciences at Georgia State University. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-metabolite-compounds-ulcerative-colitis-drug.html Fri, 02 Oct 2026 13:20:13 EDT news710164921 More U.S. women are being prescribed GLP-1 medications after giving birth, particularly those diagnosed with diabetes, according to new research from the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-glp-prescriptions-mothers-sharply.html Thu, 01 Oct 2026 16:20:14 EDT news710084510