https://medicalxpress.com/medications-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Clinical pharmacology Chronic pain, including arthritis pain, affects more than one-third of U.K. adults. Current painkillers such as methotrexate and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) work by damping down the immune system, which is overproducing inflammatory agents that cause pain, but relief is often short-lived and incomplete, and they can leave patients more vulnerable to infection. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-body-warmth-sensor-secretly-pain.html Thu, 17 Sep 2026 12:20:07 EDT news708863822 An existing anti-seizure drug slows the growth of a devastating group of childhood cancers, new Stanford Medicine-led research has shown. The tumors, called diffuse midline gliomas, strike the brain and spinal cord. They affect 300 to 400 U.S. children per year and have a five-year survival rate of about 1%. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-anti-seizure-drug-aggressive-childhood.html Thu, 17 Sep 2026 05:00:03 EDT news708794221 U.S. health officials knowingly relied on a compromised algorithm to detect signals of harm from mRNA COVID-19 vaccines and silenced efforts to fix it, finds an investigation published by The BMJ today. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-sidelined-flawed-covid-vaccine-safety.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 18:30:01 EDT news708798361 To defeat multidrug-resistant superbugs, bacterial defenses must be confronted wherever they may emerge, from basic genetic mutations in a laboratory to complex real-world transmission in hospital rooms. A new trio of studies published in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy and researched by the laboratory of Barry N. Kreiswirth, Ph.D., at the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) demonstrates how an integrated approach might yet expose and overcome these diverse survival mechanisms. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-superbugs-evade-antibiotics-vulnerable-patients.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 13:00:01 EDT news708780001 UC San Francisco researchers are weighing in on one of the biggest challenges in psychedelic science, arguing that clinical trials need more convincing placebo treatments to better measure the drugs' true effects. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-psychedelic-clinical-trials.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 11:00:10 EDT news708683883 Streptococcus pneumoniae is a bacterial pathogen that causes life-threatening infections, including pneumonia and meningitis. These infections are commonly treated with antibiotics, but antibiotics are becoming less effective against S. pneumoniae over time because of changes in the pathogen that cause drug resistance. This phenomenon, called antimicrobial resistance, is resulting in significant health care costs and deaths around the world. In a new study published by Wiley in Advanced Science, researchers used artificial intelligence (AI) to identify approved drugs that may be effective against S. pneumoniae. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-drugs-resistant-strains-ai-advances.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 03:10:01 EDT news708701222 Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and an inadequate response to standard antidepressants who received add-on treatment with the drug lumateperone had significantly improved sexual function, according to a new study led by a University of Virginia School of Medicine researcher. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-drug-sexual-function-patients-depression.html Tue, 15 Sep 2026 15:00:08 EDT news708697330 An experimental drug has been shown to improve symptoms, exercise capacity and heart failure status in patients with an inherited heart disease, according to a pair of newly published studies. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-experimental-drug-potential-hard-heart.html Tue, 15 Sep 2026 14:20:08 EDT news708695041 Researchers from the University of Liverpool and the University of Zurich have identified a potential safety consideration involving levetiracetam, one of the world's most commonly prescribed antiseizure medications. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-common-epilepsy-drug-levetiracetam-potential.html Mon, 14 Sep 2026 14:40:07 EDT news708608641 Cefepime is a fourth-generation antibiotic widely used to treat serious bacterial infections and febrile neutropenia—a fever in patients with abnormally low white blood cell counts. Unlike many antibiotics that are falling prey to antimicrobial resistance, cefepime is relatively stable against AmpC β-lactamases, giving it an advantage against bacteria that produce these enzymes. However, scientists are concerned that this widely effective antibiotic may increase the risk of death, a concern first brought to light by a 2007 meta-analysis. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-common-antibiotic-linked-higher-death.html Mon, 14 Sep 2026 10:10:02 EDT news708598913 A new modeling study published in The Lancet suggests that U.S. Medicare's new "Most-Favored-Nation" pricing policy, which ties what Medicare pays for medicines to prices charged in other high-income countries, could push pharmaceutical manufacturers to raise prices or delay launches. For about three in four medicines studied, the resulting Medicare savings would be worth almost four times that medicine's entire annual sales in the country used to set its price, potentially giving manufacturers a strong incentive to change how they price and launch products outside the U.S. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-medicare-pricing-policies-reshape-global.html Sun, 13 Sep 2026 18:30:01 EDT news708350041 Not all cancer cells are the same, and neither are their responses to drugs. Finding the right drug for the right cancer cell is a long battle in drug development and in designing effective treatments. A new AI tool called ProteinTalks makes this task easier by accurately predicting whether a drug will be effective against a cancer cell line, finding new drug combinations and identifying proteins linked to drug resistance. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-ai-virtual-cell-protein-dynamics.html Sat, 12 Sep 2026 11:20:01 EDT news708342129 Researchers from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore (NUS Medicine), have identified a promising antiviral compound that can inhibit a range of enteroviruses, including Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68), an emerging respiratory virus linked to severe respiratory illness and acute flaccid myelitis, a condition that can cause paralysis. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-broad-spectrum-antiviral-candidate-enteroviruses.html Fri, 11 Sep 2026 20:00:01 EDT news708352510 Cancer treatments, including chemotherapy and radiation therapy, give a growth advantage to cells with particular genetic changes in healthy tissue, new research finds. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-chemotherapy-darwinian-battleground-bodies.html Fri, 11 Sep 2026 05:00:07 EDT news708270961 A new Ontario-wide study reveals that common medications, from statins to iron supplements, are quietly setting off prescribing cascades that leave older adults unknowingly taking drugs to treat side effects of other drugs. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-potentially-drug-combinations-older-adults.html Thu, 10 Sep 2026 18:30:01 EDT news708257281 In 2025, Insilico Medicine developed an experimental drug called rentosertib as a treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a severe age-related lung disease. The drug works by inhibiting the protein TNIK, which is involved in both scar tissue formation in the lungs and fundamental hallmarks of biological aging. The researchers wondered whether rentosertib could serve as a dual-purpose drug that treats aging-related diseases and may also affect the aging process itself. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-blood-protein-analysis-lung-disease.html Thu, 10 Sep 2026 10:20:09 EDT news708252163 A family of nanoparticles—tiny, biodegradable molecules commonly used to deliver drugs to patients—shows promise in treating Alzheimer's disease without additional medication, according to new research from a University of Alberta neuroscientist. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-biodegradable-drug-delivery-nanoparticles-curb.html Thu, 10 Sep 2026 08:40:06 EDT news708244562 A research team has developed a recombinant, nanobody-based antivenom that offers broad protection against venom from geographically diverse cobra and king cobra species in India. The study is published in Science Translational Medicine and includes researchers at the Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and collaborators at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-antibodies-broad-deadly-cobra-toxins.html Wed, 09 Sep 2026 18:20:03 EDT news708192961 A University of Minnesota–led multi-institutional research team has discovered a highly potent small molecule that blocks Ebola virus entry by stabilizing the virus's entry protein and provides strong protection when given orally in a preclinical model. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-highly-potent-compound-blocks-ebola.html Wed, 09 Sep 2026 16:00:05 EDT news708188101 WashU Medicine researchers led by Jacco Boon, a professor in the John T. Milliken Department of Medicine, report that an experimental bird flu vaccine provides strong immune protection in mice, including in animals previously vaccinated against seasonal flu. Because pre-existing immunity from prior seasonal influenza infection or vaccination could diminish the efficacy of H5N1 vaccines, showing that the new vaccine succeeds alongside existing immunity is a crucial milestone. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-09-nasal-spray-vaccine-bird-flu.html Wed, 09 Sep 2026 13:40:04 EDT news708177459