University of Virginia

Tonix Pharmaceuticals appoints Bradley Raudabaugh as VP of Marketing and Errol Gould as VP of Medical Affairs to support the launch of TNX-102 SL for fibromyalgia. The NDA for TNX-102 SL was submitted to the FDA in October 2024, with an expected decision in 2025, potentially marking the first new drug for fibromyalgia in over 15 years.

AI in biotechnology is transforming drug discovery, personalized medicine, and medical imaging. Despite challenges like talent shortages, regulatory issues, and cyber threats, AI's potential to revolutionize healthcare is significant. Companies like Exscientia, Insilico Medicine, and Recursion Pharmaceuticals are leading the charge. Legal considerations include data privacy, IP rights, and FDA compliance.

Researchers at UVA developed foldable bottlebrush polymer networks, decoupling stiffness and stretchability, challenging the dogma since 1839. This innovation allows materials to be both stiff and stretchable, with potential applications in prosthetics, medical implants, and soft robotics.

The article discusses the importance of patient centricity in research, emphasizing the need for sustainable patient engagement programs. It introduces a template to review current activities, articulate their impact, and plan new opportunities. The template guides through setting a high-level vision, reviewing current practices, securing resources, setting goals, identifying obstacles, determining feasibility, planning for sustainability, and choosing metrics for evaluation. The goal is to integrate patient perspectives into research processes, ensuring studies respond effectively to patient needs.

A CRISPR-Cas9-based therapy, nexiguran ziclumeran, reduced serum transthyretin (TTR) levels by 89% at 28 days and 90% at 12 months in patients with transthyretin amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM). The therapy, targeting TTR production in the liver, showed potential to halt disease progression, with minimal change in biomarkers and functional tests. The phase III MAGNITUDE trial will further assess its safety and efficacy.

Crescent Biopharma appoints Susan Moran, MD, MSCE, and Alexandra Balcom, MBA, CPA, to its Board of Directors, strengthening its foundation for growth in oncology therapeutics.

Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI announces 29 graduate and postdoctoral fellows for 2024-25, representing diverse research areas including AI safety, digital health, energy science, and precision medicine. Fellows will collaborate with Stanford faculty on human-centered AI challenges.

UVA study finds high intensity exercise suppresses ghrelin, a hunger hormone, suggesting it's key for appetite suppression in weight loss programs.

A randomized clinical trial involving 50 physicians found that using a large language model (LLM) did not significantly improve diagnostic reasoning performance compared to conventional resources. The LLM alone outperformed both physician groups, indicating a need for further development in human-computer interactions to effectively integrate LLMs into clinical practice.

RSV vaccine (Abrysvo) showed 90% effectiveness against hospitalizations or ED visits in adults 60+ during its first season, with 93% effectiveness against RSV-related ARI ED visits. The study, conducted by Kaiser Permanente, included 5,120 patients, with 99.7% of test-positive cases unvaccinated. The Pfizer vaccine's durability of immunity over successive seasons remains under study.