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We look back at BIO 2025 discussions on GLP-1s, women's health, and psychedelics – and look ahead at what a new study tells us about the future of cervical cancer. (645 words, 3 minutes, 13 seconds)
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BIO 2025: Innovations need innovative regulation |
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Exciting innovations are taking place to improve blockbuster weight loss drugs and utilize psychedelics for medical purposes, but more agile regulation is needed to help get innovations to market, said experts at BIO 2025 in Boston.
GLP-1s are working wonders, but “initial weight loss is just the first chapter,” said Business Insider’s Mia de Graaf, who moderated a panel on weight loss drugs and longevity. While GLP-1s can control chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes, there is a need to find ways to also build muscle mass, panelists said.
Why this matters: Muscle mass is especially important for older patients, so companies like Eli Lilly and Regeneron are developing solutions to empower proteins tied to muscle preservation or growth.
Medical psychedelics “are remarkable,” Harvard Medical School’s Sharmin Ghaznavi, M.D., said on another panel. “Some patients don’t show remission and symptoms after just a single dose, which doesn’t happen very often.”
Why this matters: Katie M. Walker (a psychiatrist, patient advocate, and patient) said she had been using “all the tools” of psychology “just to manage,” so she was thrilled to join a clinical trial for a promising new treatment.
Now, regulators need to innovate. Biotechs need to help the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) keep pace with innovation, so they can understand and advance the latest science, explained another panel.
What this means in practice: “There’s no way the FDA can be an expert in every disease,” said Adora Ndu of BridgeBio Pharma, who used to work at the agency. “So, a big part of what we do is education.”
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New study confirms vaccines can help eliminate cervical cancer |
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Continued use of HPV vaccination and regular Pap tests could eliminate cervical cancer in a country’s population, says a new study.
Nine years to elimination: The study used modelling of 25.88 million women in South Korea. It found a vaccination rate of 90% for girls aged 12 and a 70% rate of Pap tests every two years starting at age 20 would eliminate cervical cancer in the country by 2034.
This confirms the findings of other studies—including one of all Scottish women eligible for Pap screening, which found zero cases of cervical cancer for those who had been vaccinated between ages 12-13.
Why vaccines matter: Vaccines work against cervical cancer, measles, and other diseases, saving millions of American lives. Many diseases can be prevented by vaccines, and some have already been eliminated through immunization—but Americans need to take advantage of vaccination.
Why women’s health matters: Cervical cancer is just one of many health issues specific to women, said experts at BIO 2025 in Boston. “Men and women are different, from our genes to our cells to our organ systems,” said Carolee Lee, Founder of Women’s Health Access Matters (WHAM).
The business case: “Fifty-one percent of the population makes 80% of healthcare decisions and 85% of consumer spending. That’s not a niche. That’s the market,” Lee said. |
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President Trump issues executive order to stockpile active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). The order calls for identifying and stockpiling “approximately 26 drugs that are especially critical to the health and security interests of the Nation.” It requires the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) to identify APIs in these drugs and available funds for building a six-month stockpile.
“Off-the-shelf” immunotherapy found to prevent recurrence of pancreatic and colorectal cancers in phase I trial. The treatment targets KRAS mutations, which occur in roughly 25% of all human tumors—including 93% of certain pancreatic tumors and 50% of colorectal cancer tumors, according to a study published in Nature. The treatment employs “amphiphile lymph node-targeted immunotherapy for solid tumors.” After 20 months, 17 of 25 post-surgery patients tested had strong immune responses: 11 had no recurrence and six had delayed recurrence. Unlike personalized cancer vaccines under development, this “off-the-shelf” immunotherapy would be easier to mass produce and warrants further development, study authors said.
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While congressional recess runs through Sept. 1, BIO continues engaging with both Congress and the Administration on issues that matter to biotech. |
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