MIT researchers have developed a drug that could reverse hearing loss by regenerating hair cells in the ear, writes Thomas Tamblyn for The Huffington Post. Hearing loss affects about 45 million Americans and “repairing or regrowing those hair cells would be a major breakthrough,” explains Tamblyn.
By regenerating hair cells in the inner ear that detect and transmit noise to the brain, researchers from MIT and other institutions believe they can help people with hearing loss, writes Jamie Ducharme for Boston Magazine. This method of regenerating cells “holds promise for a vast array of medical issues,” explains Ducharme.
MIT researchers have developed a new drug capsule that can deliver doses of medication over the course of several weeks, reports Robby Berman for Slate. Berman explains that the star-shaped device is like “a little pharmacy stationed in the stomach, ready to dispense doses at the desired times.”
Prof. Robert Langer speaks with Kathryn Nave of Wired about the future of drug delivery. Langer explains that a problem facing medical professionals is that many drugs are not taken regularly or as prescribed, and describes how he is developing a “long-acting pill that you could swallow to release the right drug dosage for weeks.”
A study by MIT researchers examines how the growth in pet health care spending can provide insights into the increase in human health care costs, writes Austin Frakt for The New York Times. Emotional treatment spending may explain “high and sometimes heroic end-of-life health care spending whether on your dog or on your mother,” explains Prof. Amy Finkelstein.
Prof. James Collins has been named one of The Boston Globe’s “2016 Bostonians of the Year” for his work developing a paper-based test that can detect the Zika virus in just a few hours. Neil Swidey notes that Collins also developed a “workflow for how this new platform could be adapted to meet future crises.”
In an article for Popular Science, Kate Baggaley speaks with Prof. Timothy Lu and postdoc César de la Fuente about strategies they are developing to tackle antibiotic resistance. Lu explains that researchers are attempting to develop an arsenal of treatments to “be able to come at the problem from a variety of different ways.”
MIT researchers have devised a capsule that can deliver medications over extended periods of time, and could be useful in halting the spread of malaria. The Economist notes that the device could be a “useful addition to the armory being deployed against malaria. And that, alone, could save many lives a year.”
Bob Tedeschi writes for STAT that MIT researchers have developed a device that can remain in the stomach for up to two weeks, gradually releasing medication. “The capsule represents the latest effort to solve a major flaw in drug delivery,” Tedeschi explains. “Because the human stomach clears its contents multiple times daily, pill takers must dose themselves frequently.”
MIT researchers have developed a new drug delivery capsule that can deliver medication over extended periods of time, reports Claire Maldarelli for Popular Science. Once in the stomach, the capsule opens into a star shape, which “prevents the pill from leaving the stomach and entering the small intestine.”
Researchers at MIT have developed a slow-release drug capsule that can last two weeks in a person’s stomach, writes Jamie Ducharme for Boston Magazine. “The capsule was tested for use in malaria prevention, but the researchers behind it say it could be used for virtually any condition that requires regular oral medication,” Ducharme explains.
MIT researchers have developed a star-shaped, drug-delivery device that can stay in the stomach for up to two weeks, gradually releasing medication, reports Melissa Healy for The Los Angeles Times. The researchers believe the device could be useful in “delivering a wide range of medications for diseases in which patient non-adherence is a problem.”
A paper-based test that can detect the Zika virus, developed by Prof. James Collins and his research team, is featured in a list of the year’s most important health innovations compiled Alyssa Favreau and Claire Maldarelli for Popular Science. Unlike conventional lab tests, the paper-based test can provide results within three hours.
MIT researchers have developed a new technique for making vaccines using freeze-dried cells, reports Ed Yong for The Atlantic. Yong explains that in addition to producing medicines, the technique provides a new way of “detecting important diseases, like Zika and Ebola, without relying on laboratories or sequencing machines.”
BBC News reporter Atish Patel reports on a new study, co-authored by Prof. Abhijit Banerjee, that found informal health care providers in India can improve with modest training. The researchers found that those who had undergone training were more likely to “adhere to checklists after training and made big improvements in providing correct treatments.”