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Researchers at McGill University and the University of Pennsylvania have discovered that a widely used anti-diabetic drug can boost the immune system and increase the potency of vaccines and cancer treatments. Their findings will be published June 3 in the journal Nature. The discovery was made by Dr. Russell Jones, an assistant professor at McGill's Goodman Cancer Centre and the Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Yongwon Choi, PhD, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, and postdoctoral fellow Erika Pearce, PhD, of the University of Pennsylvania. They discovered that the widely prescribed diabetes treatment metformin increases the efficiency of the immune system's T-cells, which in turn makes cancer and virus-fighting vaccines more effective.

Diabetes drugs that also promote weight loss such as Novo Nordisk's Ozempic, becoming a darling of celebrities and investors, are being studied to tackle some of the most difficult-to-treat brain disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. Diabetes regimens, from Ozempic to old mainstays like insulin and metformin, appear to address several different aspects of the metabolic system implicated in Alzheimer's disease, including a protein called amyloid and inflammation, researchers say. The hope is that improving glucose utilisation and tamping down inflammation in the entire body - including the brain - could slow progression of debilitating diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Several scientists interviewed by Reuters news agency pointed to mounting research supporting testing diabetes drugs against neurodegenerative diseases. Results are years away and success uncertain. But interest has been buoyed by recent positive data on Alzheimer's drugs developed by Eisai with partner Biogen and by Eli Lilly demonstrating that removing sticky amyloid plaques accumulated in the brain can slow cognition decline caused by the fatal mind-wasting disease. Those successes followed decades of futility that had left many questioning the validity of the amyloid theory behind most experimental Alzheimer's drugs.

PCCA Limited has issued a recall for its Ketamine 50mg/5ml and 100mg/5ml oral solutions after a small number of bottles have been observed to contain crystalline material. The company said it is recalling impacted batches from patients, pharmacies and hospitals as a precautionary measure. "This recall is being issued as a company-led medicines recall, as this product is only supplied to a small number of customers and the company has traceability of the onward distribution by their customers to patients directly," the MHRA said in an alert. Check the website.