Gilead Pins Its Hopes On Breakthrough Twice-Yearly HIV Prevention Shot

The Wall Street Journal: A New Shot Prevents HIV—And Breathes New Life Into A Stagnant Biotech
Later this month, the Food and Drug Administration is widely expected to approve a groundbreaking twice-yearly injection to prevent HIV—a milestone in the decadeslong fight against a once-devastating disease. For Gilead Sciences, the dominant player in HIV treatment, the breakthrough is doing what years of splashy but underwhelming acquisitions failed to achieve: It has Wall Street paying attention again. Since reporting last June that just two annual shots of lenacapavir prevented all HIV infections in a study of women and girls, shares have surged 73%. (Wainer, 6/5)

San Francisco Chronicle: How Stanford Mini-Heart Breakthrough Could Change Medical Research
Stanford scientists have solved a key conundrum in keeping organoids — lab-grown clusters of cells that resemble human organs — alive. These mini-brains and mini-hearts mimic human organs and enable scientists to investigate developmental processes, human diseases and drug therapies. But the assemblages have typically lacked blood vessels, which limits their growth. But no longer: In a study published on Thursday in Science, Stanford researchers were able to create heart organoids with branching blood vessels. The breakthrough opens up possibilities for future medical developments. (Lee, 6/5)

Regarding aging —

MedPage Today: Semaglutide Linked To Age-Related Macular Degeneration Risk
Older adults taking GLP-1 receptor agonists, primarily semaglutide (Rybelsus, Ozempic, Wegovy), had a small uptick in their risk of developing neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD), according to a retrospective, population-based cohort study from Canada. Patients taking GLP-1 agonists for type 2 diabetes for at least 6 months had an excess risk of nAMD compared with matched non-users over 3 years of follow-up (adjusted HR 2.21, 95% CI 1.65-2.96), reported Reut Shor, MD, of the University of Toronto, and colleagues in JAMA Ophthalmology. (Dotinga, 6/5)

The Hill: Drinking Coffee Daily Tied To Healthy Aging Among Women, Study Finds
A study presented at the American Society for Nutrition Monday suggests that an eye-opening cup of java may also have long-term health benefits for women. “Our study has several key strengths,” said Sara Mahdavi, lead researcher and an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, in a press release. “In addition to the large sample size and 30 years of follow-up, we assessed several different aspects of longevity and healthy aging as well as very comprehensive information on nutritional and lifestyle habits that were collected every four years after the initiation of the study.” (Tanner, 6/5)

Stat: Taurine May Not Be Anti-Aging Wonder Many Believe, Study Says
Vijay Yadav warned people not to start downing taurine — an amino acid abundant in plants, animals and some energy drinks — just because his mice and monkey study suggested it might be an elixir for long life. But that doesn’t mean they listened. “The other day, I was talking to I think the scientific director of one of the largest pharma in the U.S., he was taking 14 grams of taurine per day,” said Yadav, or roughly 14 Red Bulls’ worth. “He asked me, ‘is it appropriate?’ I said, ‘I cannot recommend.’” (Mast, 6/5)

Fatty liver disease, exercise, cancer, and Ozempic side effects —

The Guardian: Millions In West Do Not Know They Have Aggressive Fatty Liver Disease, Study Says
More than 15 million people in the US, UK, Germany and France do not know they have the most aggressive form of fatty liver disease, according to research. Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) – the formal name for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease – occurs in people who drink no or minimal amounts of alcohol whose liver contains more than 5% fat. (Bawden, 6/5)

Becker's Hospital Review: Coronary Artery Build-Up Linked To High-Volume Exercise: What Cardiologists Need To Know
Male athletes who exercised more than 3,000 metabolic equivalents of task-minutes per week had a higher likelihood of experiencing subclinical coronary atherosclerosis, according to a study published June 4 in JACC: Advances. One of the study’s authors, Leandro Slipczuk, MD, PhD, section head of clinical cardiology, director of advanced cardiac imaging and director of the Cardiovascular Atherosclerosis and Lipid Disorder Center at New York City-based Montefiore Einstein Health System, shared with Becker’s what cardiologists need to know about the study’s findings. (Gregerson, 6/5)

Military.Com: Cancer Risk At Air Force Missiles Sites Low 'But Not Zero,' Latest Service Data Shows
Airmen who watched over America's nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles in Cold War-era facilities faced marginally higher risk of cancer due to contaminants found there and more workplace oversight is needed, according to the latest findings of an Air Force health study. Air Force Global Strike Command, during a town hall event Wednesday, released the latest data showing the slightly elevated cancer risk as part of its ongoing probe into health concerns for America's missileers, maintainers and other support roles at several bases in the Midwest and Western U.S. (Novelly, 6/5)

Fox News: Ozempic Users Report Strange Attraction To Sweet Perfumes As Side Effect
While Ozempic and other weight-loss drugs have been shown to have myriad benefits, they can also present some unwelcome effects, primarily nausea, vomiting and other gastrointestinal symptoms. Some are also reporting changes in their sense of smell — sometimes referred to as "Ozempic smell" — as one of the lesser-known side effects of GLP-1 medications. (Quill, 6/5)

Also —

The Washington Post: Robert Holton, Who Helped Develop A Potent Cancer Drug, Dies At 81
Robert Holton, a chemist who helped develop an easier, cost-efficient way to produce the blockbuster cancer drug Taxol, paving the way for large-scale production of a medication that has been used to treat hundreds of thousands of patients, died May 21 at his home in Tallahassee. He was 81. The cause was emphysema, said his son Robert L. Holton. (Smith, 6/5)