Radically different
Nature Neuroscience, Published online: 04 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41593-026-02338-5
Androgens — hormones that are generally present at higher levels in males than females — regulate intestinal transit, but their cellular targets and mechanisms of action are unclear. We identify the neurons that mediate androgen-dependent gut motility and reveal that androgen reactivation by a bacterial enzyme in the gut lumen is necessary for this vital neuroendocrine axis.
Americans who have high-risk exposures to Ebola in the current outbreak in Central Africa will have access to an antibody treatment that has shown great promise in animal testing but hasn’t yet undergone a clinical trial to show whether it is efficacious in people, the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed Thursday.
The antibody treatment, known as MBP-134, is made by San Diego-based Mapp Biopharmaceuticals, with funding from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, an agency within HHS that helps develop medical countermeasures for rare and emerging diseases, and biological threats.
WASHINGTON — Leaders at the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday listened to criticisms and recommendations for how to move forward with a speedy drug review program put in place by former FDA commissioner Marty Makary.
The listening session, held on the FDA’s White Oak Campus, featured 17 speakers representing patient groups, drug companies, and academic organizations. Some had positive feedback, particularly those whose drugs have already been approved through the program. But most asked the agency to pause the program, and then bring it back through normal regulatory procedures that require public feedback.
Makary launched the Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher program about a year ago, offering one- to two-month FDA reviews to companies that could prove their drugs “align with national priorities.” The priorities, which included addressing health crises and delivering innovative cures, were vague. Critics worried the process was vulnerable to political interference.
Why did oncologists give a standing ovation to a data presentation on Revolution Medicines’ pancreatic cancer drug, daraxonrasib? Why did biotech stocks perform so badly this week? And are concrete beaches better than normal beaches?
We discuss all that and more on this week’s episode of “The Readout LOUD,” STAT’s biotech podcast.
Otsuka’s Voyxact slowed the loss of kidney function after one year in patients with a chronic autoimmune kidney disease, but the benefit was less than expected and left room for competing treatments to perform better.
In a Phase 3 study, patients with IgA nephropathy, or IgAN, who received injections of Voyxact saw their kidneys lose function at an annualized rate of 3 points over one year compared to an annualized function loss of 7.6 points over one year for patients receiving a placebo, the Japanese drugmaker reported Thursday.
Kidney function was assessed with a lab test, called eGFR, that measures how well kidneys filter waste from the blood.