Pharmaceuticals News

January 15, 2026

Top Headlines

Doctors Discover the Source of Mysterious Intoxication

Jan. 13, 2026 Some people get drunk without drinking because their gut bacteria produce alcohol from food. Researchers have now identified the microbes and biological pathways behind this rare condition, auto-brewery syndrome. Tests showed patients’ gut samples ...

Scientists Discover How the Uterus Knows When to Push During Childbirth

Jan. 13, 2026 Childbirth depends not just on hormones, but on the uterus’s ability to sense physical force. Scientists found that pressure and stretch sensors in uterine muscles and surrounding nerves work together to trigger coordinated contractions. When ...

MIT’s Smart Pill Confirms You Took Your Medicine

Jan. 13, 2026 MIT engineers have developed a pill that can wirelessly report when it’s been swallowed. Inside the capsule is a biodegradable antenna that sends a signal within minutes of ingestion, then safely dissolves. The system is designed to work with ...

A New Test Reveals Which Antibiotics Truly Kill Bacteria

Jan. 12, 2026 Some antibiotics stop bacteria from growing without actually killing them, allowing infections to return later. Scientists at the University of Basel created a new test that tracks individual bacteria to see which drugs truly eliminate them. When ...

A Little-known Health Syndrome May Affect Nearly Everyone

Jan. 12, 2026 Most U.S. adults have risk factors tied to a little-known condition called CKM syndrome, which connects heart disease, kidney problems, diabetes, and obesity into one powerful health threat. When these issues overlap, the danger rises far more than ...

Long COVID May Be Fueled by Inflammation and Tiny Clots

Jan. 8, 2026 Long COVID affects an estimated 65 million people worldwide and can damage the brain, heart, blood vessels, and immune system long after infection. Researchers now link symptoms to lingering virus, inflammation, micro-clots, and disrupted energy ...

Scientists Find a Safer Way for Opioids to Relieve Pain

Jan. 6, 2026 Researchers at USF Health have discovered a new way opioid receptors can work that may lead to safer pain medications. Their findings show that certain experimental compounds can amplify pain relief without intensifying dangerous side effects like ...

A Simple Drug Pair May Succeed Where Liver Fibrosis Treatments Failed

Jan. 6, 2026 Scientists have found that combining silybin with carvedilol works far better against liver fibrosis than either drug alone. The duo targets the root drivers of liver scarring, sharply reducing collagen buildup and liver damage in experimental ...

Everyday Chemicals Are Quietly Damaging Beneficial Gut Bacteria

Jan. 5, 2026 A large study has revealed that dozens of widely used chemicals can damage beneficial gut bacteria. Many of these substances, found in pesticides and everyday industrial products, were never thought to affect living organisms at all. When gut ...

A Key Alzheimer’s Gene Emerges in African American Brain Study

Jan. 1, 2026 Scientists studying Alzheimer’s in African Americans have uncovered a striking genetic clue that may cut across racial lines. In brain tissue from more than 200 donors, the gene ADAMTS2 was significantly more active in people with Alzheimer’s ...

Nearly 70% of U.S. Adults Could Now Be Classified as Obese

Dec. 31, 2025 A major update to how obesity is defined could push U.S. obesity rates to nearly 70%, according to a large new study. The change comes from adding waist and body fat measurements to BMI, capturing people who were previously considered healthy. Many ...

Stanford Scientists Uncover Why MRNA COVID Vaccines Can Trigger Heart Inflammation

Dec. 27, 2025 Stanford scientists have uncovered how mRNA COVID-19 vaccines can very rarely trigger heart inflammation in young men — and how that risk might be reduced. They found that the vaccines can spark a ...

Latest Headlines

updated 7:54am EST

A Surprising Brain Cleanup Reduced Epileptic Seizures and Restored Memory

Dec. 25, 2025 A new study suggests temporal lobe epilepsy may be linked to early aging of certain brain cells. When researchers removed these aging cells in mice, seizures dropped, memory improved, and some ...

MIT Scientists Strip Cancer of Its Sugar Shield

Dec. 23, 2025 Scientists at MIT and Stanford have unveiled a promising new way to help the immune system recognize and attack cancer cells more effectively. Their strategy targets a hidden “off switch” that ...

A New Drug Could Stop Alzheimer’s Before Memory Loss Begins

Dec. 22, 2025 New research suggests Alzheimer’s may start far earlier than previously thought, driven by a hidden toxic protein in the brain. Scientists found that an experimental drug, NU-9, blocks this early ...

AI Detects Cancer but It’s Also Reading Who You Are

Dec. 17, 2025 AI tools designed to diagnose cancer from tissue samples are quietly learning more than just disease patterns. New research shows these systems can infer patient demographics from pathology slides, ...

Scientists Find the Missing Links Between Genes and Disease

Dec. 16, 2025 A new genetic mapping strategy reveals how entire networks of genes work together to cause disease, filling in the missing links left by traditional genetic studies. The technique could transform how ...

Daily Multivitamins Quietly Lower Blood Pressure in Some Older Adults

Dec. 12, 2025 Emerging evidence hints that daily multivitamins might quietly help certain older adults keep their blood pressure in check—especially those with poorer diets and normal readings at the start. ...

Her Food Cravings Vanished on Mounjaro Then Roared Back

Dec. 8, 2025 Deep-brain recordings showed that Mounjaro and Zepbound briefly shut down the craving circuits linked to food noise in a patient with severe obesity. Her obsessive thoughts about food disappeared as ...

New Fat-Burning Diabetes Pill Protects Muscle and Appetite

Dec. 7, 2025 Researchers have developed a new oral drug that boosts metabolic activity in muscle rather than altering appetite like GLP-1 drugs. Early trials suggest it improves blood sugar control and fat ...

A 70-Year-Old Pregnancy Drug Just Revealed a Hidden Weakness in Brain Cancer

Dec. 2, 2025 Researchers have solved the decades-old mystery behind how a common pregnancy drug lowers blood pressure. It turns out the medication blocks a ...

Millions Are About to Choose the Wrong Medicare Plan

Nov. 29, 2025 Millions face Medicare decisions each year, but many don’t take advantage of tools that can save them money and stress. Insurance marketing often overshadows unbiased options like SHIP, leaving ...

Inflammation Turns Bone Marrow Into a Breeding Ground for Disease

Nov. 18, 2025 Researchers discovered that chronic inflammation fundamentally remodels the bone marrow, allowing mutated stem cell clones to quietly gain dominance with age. Reprogrammed stromal cells and ...

Scientists Reawaken Exhausted T Cells to Supercharge Cancer Immunity

Nov. 20, 2025 Researchers discovered a way to keep T cells from wearing out during the fight against cancer, and the approach could make immune-based treatments far more powerful. They found that tumors use a ...

Nov. 28, 2025 A major review across 73 countries finds that access to antiseizure medications is rising, but safe prescribing isn’t keeping pace. Valproate—linked to serious birth defects—remains widely used ...

New Evidence Shows Tirzepatide and Semaglutide Strongly Protect the Heart

Nov. 21, 2025 A massive real-world study comparing tirzepatide and semaglutide reveals both drugs deliver strong, early cardiovascular protection—reducing heart attack, stroke, and death in adults with type 2 ...

Blocking a Single Protein Forces Cancer Cells to Self-Destruct

Nov. 20, 2025 Researchers uncovered a powerful weakness in lung cancer by shutting down a protein that helps tumors survive stress. When this protein, FSP1, was blocked, lung tumors in mice shrank dramatically, ...

The Hidden “Big Bang” That Decides How Bowel Cancer Grows

Nov. 7, 2025 Scientists have pinpointed a “Big Bang” moment in bowel cancer—when cells first evade the immune system. This early immune escape locks in how the cancer will behave as it grows. The discovery ...

Common Acne Drug May Protect Against Schizophrenia

Nov. 6, 2025 Scientists have discovered a surprising benefit of the acne drug doxycycline: it may lower the risk of schizophrenia. Teens prescribed the antibiotic were about one-third less likely to develop the ...

Scientists Shocked to Find E. Coli Spreads as Fast as the Swine Flu

Nov. 4, 2025 Researchers have, for the first time, estimated how quickly E. coli bacteria can spread between people — and one strain moves as fast as swine flu. Using genomic data from the UK and Norway, ...

Think Melatonin Is Safe? New Research Reveals a Hidden Heart Risk

Nov. 4, 2025 Long-term melatonin use for sleep problems may come with unexpected heart dangers. Researchers found that chronic users were almost twice as likely to die and 3.5 times more likely to be hospitalized ...

Ancient Viruses Hidden Inside Bacteria Could Help Defeat Modern Infections

Nov. 3, 2025 Penn State scientists uncovered an ancient bacterial defense where dormant viral DNA helps bacteria fight new viral threats. The enzyme PinQ flips bacterial genes to create protective proteins that ...

Scientists Find Hidden Antibiotic 100x Stronger Against Deadly Superbugs

Oct. 29, 2025 A team of scientists discovered a hidden antibiotic 100 times stronger than existing drugs against deadly superbugs like MRSA. The molecule had been overlooked for decades in a familiar bacterium. It ...

Ozempic and Wegovy Protect the Heart, Even Without Weight Loss

Oct. 31, 2025 Semaglutide appears to safeguard the heart even when patients lose little weight. In a massive international trial, heart attack and stroke risk dropped by 20% regardless of BMI. The benefit seems ...

Scientists Discover COVID mRNA Vaccines Boost Cancer Survival

Oct. 28, 2025 Researchers found that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines significantly increased survival in lung and skin cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy. The vaccine appears to prime the immune system in a powerful, ...

This Powerful Drug Combo Cuts Prostate Cancer Deaths by 40%

Oct. 19, 2025 A new drug combo of enzalutamide and hormone therapy has been shown to extend survival for men with recurring prostate cancer, reducing death risk by over 40%. The study followed more than 1,000 ...

Cancer Patients Who Got a COVID Vaccine Lived Much Longer

Oct. 19, 2025 A groundbreaking study reveals that cancer patients who received a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine within 100 days of starting immunotherapy lived dramatically longer than those who didn’t. Researchers from ...

A Gene from 100-Year-Olds Could Help Kids Who Age Too Fast

Nov. 3, 2025 Scientists have discovered that a “longevity gene” found in people who live beyond 100 can reverse heart aging in models of Progeria, a devastating disease that causes children to age rapidly. By ...

Scientists Grow Mini Human Livers That Predict Toxic Drug Reactions

Oct. 15, 2025 A new human liver organoid microarray developed by Cincinnati Children’s and Roche recreates immune-driven liver injury in the lab. Built from patient-derived stem cells and immune cells, it ...

Exercise Might Be the Key to a Younger, Sharper Immune System

Oct. 14, 2025 Endurance exercise may train the immune system as much as the muscles. Older adults with decades of running or cycling had immune cells that functioned better and aged more slowly. Their inflammation ...

Two Common Drugs Could Reverse Fatty Liver Disease

Oct. 12, 2025 Researchers at the University of Barcelona found that combining pemafibrate and telmisartan significantly reduces liver fat and cardiovascular risks in MASLD models. The drug duo works better ...

Brain Cancer That Eats the Skull Stuns Scientists

Oct. 5, 2025 A new study shows glioblastoma isn’t confined to the brain—it erodes the skull and hijacks the immune system within skull marrow. The cancer opens channels that let inflammatory cells enter the ...