Derek Smith

This week in medicine 1. Dana-Farber/23andMe show that a rare inherited EGFR mutation increases lung-cancer risk 25-fold - and 62-fold in never-smokers. 2. City of Hope researchers develop a new blood test that detects early stage (I–II) pancreatic cancers with ~87% sensitivity - by combining a 10-miRNA signature with the existing test, CA19-9. Bigger trials up next. 3. Novo’s CagriSema delivers 19% placebo-adjusted weight loss in a phase 3 obesity trial - and, in a separate phase 3 trial in type 2 diabetes, beats low-dose tirzepatide for weight loss (12.4% vs 9.1%). 4. Mayo Clinic/n-Lorem researchers develop a personalized antisense oligonucleotide for a single patient with CHCHD10-mutant ALS. After a year, markers of neuronal damage dropped, and clinical/lung function stabilized or even improved. 5. GenFleet’s oral KRAS G12D ON/OFF inhibitor produces responses against both pancreatic and lung cancer in a phase 1 trial - and moves straight to phase 3. Its differentiation is that it targets both active and inactive KRAS. 6. Brigham researchers find evidence that Epstein–Barr virus reactivation precedes multiple sclerosis relapses by weeks to months. 7. Stanford researchers build a Virtual Biotech, with >37,000 AI agents - finding that drugs targeting cell-type-specific genes were 48% more likely to get approved, with 32% fewer adverse events. 8. Bayer’s finerenone gets FDA-approved for chronic kidney disease in type 1 diabetes - the first new treatment for this population in more than 30 years. 9. Stanford researchers find that the anti-seizure drug, levetiracetam, may directly inhibit diffuse midline glioma. Children taking it had longer survival (in retrospective cohorts) - prospective trials up next. 10. A European trial finds that, after removal of high-risk colorectal adenomas, waiting 5 years for the first surveillance colonoscopy is just as good as doing one after 3 years - potentially almost halving the number of follow-up colonoscopies needed.