Healthcare

The European Union's drugs regulator has rejected Eisai and Biogen's Leqembi treatment for early Alzheimer's disease due to concerns about the risk of serious brain swelling outweighing its marginal impact on cognitive decline. The decision has caused Biogen's shares to drop in U.S. trading and reveals the challenges associated with new medications that offer benefits to early-stage patients but may have rare and severe side effec...

A study published in Nature reveals a unique genetic mutation pattern, called SBS12, in over 70% of Japanese renal cell carcinoma patients, suggesting a potential unknown carcinogenic factor specific to Japan. This discovery could lead to new prevention and treatment strategies for this type of cancer.

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have achieved a scientific breakthrough by creating a bio-hybrid robot with living, lab-grown skin, allowing the robot's face to display three-dimensional expressions like a smile. This innovation is a significant step forward in the field of robotics, bringing humanoid robots closer to resembling humans with features like sweat glands, pores, blood vessels, and the ability to change facial expressions.

A new medical patch called Synfolium has been released to surgically widen blood vessels in children with congenital heart disease. Developed by a collaboration of Osaka Medical and Pharmaceutical University, Fukui Tateami Co., and Teijin Ltd., the patch is designed to stretch with the patient's body growth, potentially reducing the need for a second operation.

The number of patients with fulminant streptococcal toxic shock syndrome (STSS) has surpassed 1,000 this year, exceeding last year's total and marking the highest number since 1999. The outbreak of this deadly syndrome, with a high fatality rate, shows no signs of slowing down, and experts believe a highly toxic strain of group A streptococcus may be responsible for the increase.