Author: Healthcare Propulsion Staff

For more than two decades, scientists have explored a group of cancer drugs known as CD40 agonist antibodies. Early experiments suggested these treatments could strongly activate the immune system and help it destroy cancer cells. However, results in people were disappointing. Clinical trials showed only modest benefits, and the drugs often caused serious side effects such as widespread inflammation, dangerously low platelet levels, and liver damage. These reactions occurred even at relatively low doses. In 2018, researchers led by Jeffrey V. Ravetch at Rockefeller University reported a potential breakthrough. The team redesigned a CD40 agonist antibody to improve its effectiveness…

As the adoption of medical AI rapidly grows, healthcare AI companies are shifting from simply generating answers to proving why those answers should be trusted. OpenEvidence, an AI-powered medical search engine, developed a medical AI copilot feature that grades and visualizes the quality of the published evidence cited in, and used to inform, every answer to a clinical question. The feature, called EvidenceGrade, adds a critical layer of context to aid in incorporating medical evidence into high-stakes medical decisions, the company asserts. A well-known limitation of AI systems is that when summarizing multiple sources, they gloss over differences in the…

A new study led by Mount Sinai researchers reports that commonly used cardiac screening methods fail to identify almost half of the people who are actually at risk of having a heart attack. The findings were released on November 21 in a brief report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Advances. According to the authors, the results point to a significant weakness in current prevention practices because today’s guidelines may overlook individuals who would benefit from earlier detection and protective treatment. The team evaluated the accuracy of the widely used atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk score and…

Thousands of women could avoid invasive diagnostic procedures for suspected womb cancer under an NHS trial of an AI blood test designed to identify patients at low risk of disease. The PinPoint blood test, developed by Leeds-based PinPoint Data Science, is being introduced by several NHS organisations following a large-scale evaluation involving 16,481 patients referred by GPs with suspected cancers across 170 practices in Yorkshire. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and the University of Leeds first collaborated with PinPoint Data Science in 2023 to develop the AI blood test. According to The Guardian, around 90,000 postmenopausal women are referred each…

Most cancer treatments, including chemotherapy, radiotherapy and immunotherapy, are designed to attack and destroy cancer cells. A growing group of researchers is now asking whether this long-standing approach may be missing something important. What if the real path to a cure is not to damage cancer, but to coax it into healing instead? That provocative idea is at the heart of work led by Professor Indraneel Mittra at the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer in Mumbai, India. The concept is not completely new. In 1986, an article in the New Journal of Medicine by Dr. Harold…

Health tech startup Forus, a company that automates prescription workflows with artificial intelligence, is partnering with the American Gastroenterological Association to improve medication access for patients living with digestive diseases. Forus, formerly known as Tandem, built an artificial intelligence-powered network that connects doctors, pharmacies, payers and biopharma to automate the path from prescription to patient. Forus’ technology handles the tedious back-end administrative work that often creates friction points, making it harder for patients to get the medications they need. The company automates prior authorizations, appeals, financial assistance and pharmacy routing across different stakeholders. It’s free for both doctors and patients…

Scientists at Johns Hopkins University have uncovered how humans develop sharp central vision before birth, identifying a carefully timed interaction between a vitamin A derived molecule and thyroid hormones in the retina. The discovery challenges a decades old explanation for how key light sensing cells form and could guide future treatments for macular degeneration, glaucoma, and other diseases that damage vision. The research, which relied on lab grown retinal tissue, was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Lab Grown Retinas Reveal How Sharp Vision Forms “This is a key step toward understanding the inner workings of…

New research suggests that both the amount and the type of carbohydrates people eat may strongly influence their risk of developing dementia. The findings come from a collaborative study conducted by the Nutrition and Metabolic Health (NuMeH) research group at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), the Centre for Environmental, Food and Toxicological Technology (TecnATox), and the Pere Virgili Health Research Institute (IISPV). The study was published in the scientific journal International Journal of Epidemiology. While age remains one of the strongest risk factors for dementia, researchers emphasize that lifestyle choices also play an important role. A healthy routine, particularly…

Humans cannot survive without lungs. Yet one patient managed to live for 48 hours without them. In a report published in the Cell Press journal Med, surgeons detail how they removed a man’s severely infected lungs and used an “artificial lung” system to keep him alive until a double lung transplant could be performed. The case highlights a potential new way to keep critically ill patients alive while they wait for donor organs. A Life Threatening Case of ARDS and Organ Failure “He was critically ill. His heart stopped as soon as he arrived. We had to perform CPR,” said…

As Americans prepare for the holiday season, new research serves as a reminder to think carefully about the long-term health impact of raising a celebratory glass. Alcohol is already recognized as a cause of several cancers, even when consumed at moderate levels. Despite this, drinking remains common, and many uncertainties remain about how both how often people drink and how much they drink influence their cancer risk. In addition, risk is not the same for everyone, and current alcohol policies rarely highlight the connection between drinking and cancer. Large Review of Alcohol Use and Cancer Risk To address these gaps,…