In a first since 2014, vaccination campaign reaches 13 million children in Sudan
Despite ongoing socio-political uncertainty in the country, the campaign provided children under the age of 10 with vaccines against measles and polio.
Medicine
British boys will receive HPV vaccine to prevent ‘thousands of cancers’
In total, the HPV vaccine program could prevent over 100,000 cases of cancer by 2058, officials said.
Colorado becomes first state in the United States to cap price of insulin
Diabetics in Colorado who use insulin to control their blood sugar levels won’t pay more than $100 per month for the drug starting in January.
New research suggests MDMA lets PTSD victims form new bonds and memories to overcome trauma
Research from Johns Hopkins University finds that MDMA seems to re-open a window of opportunity for social bonding and rewiring trauma-related faulty connections in the brain.
U.S. FDA approves first ever treatment for postpartum depression
The newly-approved drug, sold under the brand name Zulresso, was shown to relieve depressive symptoms within hours of being administered in three different clinical trials — and it continued to show success throughout their 30-day followups.
Prices of nearly 400 anti-cancer drugs in India slashed by up to 87%
Hundreds of lifesaving cancer medications will now be available to Indian patients at a much cheaper cost, according to the government’s pharmaceutical department.
United States FDA approves form of ketamine for depression treatment
Esketamine is the first new drug treatment approved for depression in decades. Current drugs target the feel-good brain chemical serotonin, and can take weeks or months to kick in. Ketamine targets a chemical called glutamate that is thought to restore brain connections that help relieve depression.
Mao Zedong reintroduces Traditional Chinese Medicine into Chinese health care system
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a style of traditional medicine based on more than 2,500 years of Chinese medical practice that includes various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage (tui na), exercise (qigong), and dietary therapy.
Louis S. Goodman and Alfred Gilman run first human trial of cancer chemotherapy
In collaboration with thoracic surgeon Gustaf Lindskog, the two doctors from Yale School of Medicine injected the chemical mustine into a patient with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In a monumental moment for the field of medicine, the patient, a Polish immigrant to Connecticut known in literature only as JD, experienced a dramatic reduction in his tumor masses, paving the way for millions of future patients who would benefit from the therapy in the years and decades to come.
Howard Florey conducts the first-ever clinical trials of penicillin
Florey’s discoveries, along with the discoveries of Alexander Fleming and Ernst Chain, are estimated to have saved over 200 million lives, and he is consequently regarded by the Australian scientific and medical community as one of its greatest figures.