Lithium Might Be Key To Curing Alzheimer’s, Harvard Study Finds
Scientists have found that lithium orotate — which is different from the kind of lithium typically used to treat mental health conditions — not only stopped the brain disease in mice but also reversed it. Researchers still must test this theory on humans, but the Trump administration's freeze on research funding "will significantly limit our progress," said Dr. Bruce Yankner, the team's senior author.
The Boston Globe:
New Hope For Alzheimer’s: Groundbreaking Harvard Study Finds Lithium Reverses Brain Aging
In a provocative new study, Harvard Medical School scientists found that lithium, an element found in some foods and drinking water and in trace amounts in our bodies, can confer resistance to brain aging and Alzheimer’s. Their work, published Wednesday in the journal Nature, reveals that lithium was the only trace metal that was significantly depleted in the brains of people in the earliest stages of memory loss during aging. The scientists also found that feeding tiny amounts of lithium to mice that were deprived of the substance and showed signs of dementia restored their memory. Lithium has long been used to treat mental health conditions, particularly bipolar disorder. But the form of lithium typically used for such treatments, lithium carbonate, is different from the one used by the team, which employed lithium orotate. (Lazar, 8/6)
ScienceDaily:
Alzheimer’s Risk May Start At The Brain’s Border, Not Inside It
The brain's health depends on more than just its neurons. A complex network of blood vessels and immune cells acts as the brain's dedicated guardians -- controlling what enters, cleaning up waste, and protecting it from threats by forming the blood-brain barrier. A new study from Gladstone Institutes and UC San Francisco (UCSF) reveals that many genetic risk factors for neurological diseases like Alzheimer's and stroke exert their effects within these very guardian cells. (8/4)
More on medical research —
New Hampshire Bulletin:
‘Utterly Terrifying’: Dartmouth Scientists Reeling From Trump’s Biomedical Research Cuts
This year, Dr. Steven Bernstein, a researcher at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, was planning to study the health of farm workers, particularly in the dairy industry in northern New Hampshire and Vermont. The idea, he said in an interview with the Bulletin, was “to develop and test some interventions to improve what we call the social determinants of health: their ability to access fresh food, their transportation, physical activity, exercise, etc. This is a group that has a pretty tough life in a lot of ways. They work really hard, and most of them come from Central America.” (Skipworth, 8/6)
KFF Health News:
Patient Numbers At NIH Hospital Have Plummeted Under Trump, Jeopardizing Care
The number of people receiving treatment at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center — the renowned research hospital that cares for patients with rare or life-threatening diseases — has tumbled under the second Trump administration, according to government documents and interviews with current and former NIH employees. (Pradhan, 8/7)
In other pharma and tech news —
Stat:
Sarepta Hired Trump-Linked Michael Best Strategies To Lobby
Sarepta Therapeutics, which has come under regulatory pressure over its gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, hired a Trump-connected lobbying firm after the death of a teenage boy treated with the drug, according to lobbying disclosure reports. (Wilkerson, 8/6)
Bloomberg:
Richter Eyes More Drug Licensing Deals To Sidestep Trump Tariffs
Gedeon Richter, Hungary’s biggest drugmaker, aims to clinch more deals like its partnership with AbbVie Inc. to expand in the US without being weighed down by import tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. Richter generated $622 million last year in royalties from its licensing deal with Abbvie, which markets its blockbuster anti-psychotic drug as Vraylar in the US. That income stream won’t be subject to tariffs and is a model Richter wants to pursue with more local US partners in key areas such as women’s health, Chief Executive Officer Gabor Orban told reporters Wednesday. (Gergely, 8/6)
AP:
FDA Flags Problems With Two Boston Scientific Heart Devices
U.S. health regulators are warning doctors and patients about safety issues with two separate Boston Scientific heart devices recently linked to injuries and deaths. The Food and Drug Administration issued two alerts Wednesday about electrical problems tied to the company’s heart-zapping defibrillator systems and a separate issue with a heart implant used to reduce stroke risk. The agency said some of the company’s Endotak Reliance defibrillator wires can become calcified, leading to failures in delivering life-saving shocks to the heart, according to the FDA. (Perrone, 8/6)
MedPage Today:
FDA Approves Brain Tumor Drug Targeting New Mutation
The FDA granted accelerated approval to dordaviprone (Modeyso) as the first systemic therapy for adults and children with diffuse midline glioma harboring H3 K27M mutations. Labeling stipulates use in individuals 1 year and older with progressive disease following prior therapy for the rare tumor type, which affects an estimated 2,000 kids and adults in the U.S. annually. (Bassett, 8/6)
MedPage Today:
Bubonic Plague Gets A Cheaper, Easier Treatment
Oral ciprofloxacin alone was as effective as a regimen combined with an injectable antibiotic for bubonic plague, a randomized trial showed. ... The study's 4% case fatality rate overall was far below the 23% rate seen in Madagascar at locations that weren't in the trial's recruitment areas. WHO estimates for bubonic plague case fatality rates range from 17% to 26%. (Rudd, 8/6)
NBC News:
HEPA Air Filters' Latest Advantage Is Lowering Blood Pressure, Study Finds
People whose homes are near busy highways may be able to reduce their blood pressure by running an air purifier with a HEPA filter, a study found. Just a month of air filter use cut systolic blood pressure by nearly 3 points in healthy adults who had slightly elevated blood pressure, according to the report published Wednesday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. (Carroll, 8/6)
