Biohaven Pharmaceutical said on May 23 the company’s experimental drug for patients with spinocerebellar ataxia, a genetic disease that affects the nervous system, failed to meet the main goal of a late-stage study.
Elon Musk’s Neuralink was beaten to the clinic by a rival brain-computer interface company. Synchron enrolled the first patient in the COMMAND study that will assess the New York-based company’s implant in individuals with severe paralysis.
An Oxford University study has found that COVID-19 can cause the brain to shrink, reduce grey matter in the regions that control emotion and memory, and damage areas that control the sense of smell.
As Russia continues to bombard cities across Ukraine in artillery strikes, thousands of people have huddled in underground metro stations and bunkers to escape the devastation of those attacks. But another type of attack could result from this – a new outbreak of COVID-19 infection.
Researchers at the University of Copenhagen – The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences found that activating a specialized group of neurons within the brainstem of mice restored full movement function in mice with symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Adverse Events Reporting System (FAERS), three more deaths have been reported potentially associated with the Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm since Biogen indicated during November 2021 that the company was investigating the death of a 75-year-old woman who died from a brain abnormality.
Researchers at Bar-Ilan University and the Galilee Medical Center identified an association between vitamin D deficiency and severity and mortality of COVID-19.
Biogen Inc. is urging Medicare to broadly reimburse the company’s recently authorized Alzheimer’s drug, in response to a proposal by the U.S. government to sharply limit coverage of new drugs for the brain-wasting disease.
People who die of severe COVID-19 have brain abnormalities that resemble changes seen in Alzheimer’s disease – accumulation of a protein called tau inside brain cells, and abnormal amounts of the protein beta-amyloid that accumulates into amyloid plaques – small studies found. In other news, seniors can safely get the high-dose flu vaccine and an mRNA COVID-19 booster dose at the same time, a new study confirms.
The prevailing theory about the Omicron variant is that it is going to rip through the population quickly and possibly burn out, marking the downside of the COVID-19 pandemic. But researchers are expressing concern about a subvariant of Omicron dubbed BA.2 that appears to be tearing through Denmark, just as the first Omicron wave subsided.
