In July 2024, BioWorld reported on 121 clinical trial updates, down from 221 covered in June. The month saw 17 successful phase III trials, alongside four unsuccessful cancer trials.
A new brain-computer interface (BCI) developed at UC Davis Health is able to translate brain signals into speech with up to 97% accuracy – the most accurate system of its kind.
Cresilon Inc. secured U.S. FDA clearance for Traumagel, a hydrogel that stops potentially life-threatening bleeding in seconds. Cresilon designed the product for use by the U.S. military, first responders and medical professionals to swiftly and effectively stop bleeding from traumatic wounds
A long-term look at obese and overweight patients with pre-diabetes found that weekly injections of Eli Lilly and Co.’s tirzepatide led to a 94% reduction in their risk of progression to type 2 diabetes compared to placebo – a result that Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger called “exceptional.”
An implanted deep brain stimulator that calibrates its electrical pulses based on changes in brain activity reduced patients’ most bothersome symptoms of Parkinson’s disease 50%, a small feasibility study published in Nature Medicine found.
Icecure Medical Ltd.’s Prosense system demonstrated a 100% success rate in destroying breast cancer tumors that were less than or equal to 25 millimeters, according to a study published in the British Journal of Radiology.
The first patenting from Hemeo BV describes its development of Vantage, an artificial intelligence powered clinical decision support software for coagulation management.
As mpox has now been found in the EU, the race for an effective vaccine has accelerated, with a study failure but increased vaccine production from Europe. The U.S. NIH just released top-line results from a preliminary analysis of a placebo-controlled study of Siga Technologies Inc.’s antiviral, tecovirimat, showing it missed the primary endpoint of statistically significant improvement within 28 days post-randomization in time to lesion resolution for patients in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In response to the continuing opioid epidemic, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brigham and Women’s Hospital developed a small implantable device that monitors heart rate, respiration and other vital signs indicative of an overdose, then automatically releases a dose of naloxone.
Preliminary results from a phase II study of Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s oncolytic peptide for basal cell carcinoma showed half of the participants had lesions reach complete histologic clearance with no tumor cells left behind. Those who still had tumors saw them shrink 71%. Every participant that received the treatment had a tumor-size reduction of 86%.