A group of major American hospitals, battered by?price spikes?on old drugs and long-lasting?shortages?of critical medicines, has launched a mission-driven, not-for-profit generic drug company, Civica Rx, to take some control over the drug supply. Backed by seven large health systems and three philanthropic groups, the new venture will be led by an industry insider who refuses to draw a salary. The company will focus initially on establishing price transparency and stable supplies for?14 generic drugs used in hospitals, without pressure from shareholders to issue dividends or push a stock price higher.  

CAR-T is a novel way of treating cancer that is "personalised". It involves giving patients genetically modified immune cells. Cells are taken from a sample of the patient's blood and reprogrammed in the lab to create ones that are genetically coded to recognise and destroy the cancer cells. It has been shown in trials to cure some patients, even those with advanced cancers where other treatments have failed. It is the first in what is expected to be a rapidly expanding class of personalised cancer therapies available, initially for children, on the NHS in the UK. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-45407514?

A key part of diagnosing blood cancers is done by detecting abnormal chromosomes inside leukaemia cells. Now a new technique, pioneered by Wendy Erber, Kathy Fuller and Henry Hui from the University of Western Australia, will allow these diagnoses to be made more efficiently. The method is the first of its kind and can detect one leukaemia cell in a population of 10,000 normal cells. The trio won the Innovative Use of Technology Eureka Prize due to the sophisticated nature of their work. It will help in predicting the best treatment for a patient and the likely outcome." http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-08-29/eureka-prizes-2018-five-awesome-innovations-australian-research/10179328?

Australian scientists have discovered a new type of anti-cancer drug that can put cancer cells into a permanent sleep, without the harmful side-effects caused by conventional cancer therapies. By targeting specific proteins researchers have been able to develop a small molecule that inhibits their activity. The process can stop tumour growth and spread without damaging the cells? DNA. . Conventional cancer therapies (like chemotherapy and radiotherapy) cause irreversible DNA damage as they target both cancer cells and healthy cells. The DNA damage can result in short-term and long-term side effects such as nausea, fatigue, hair loss and susceptibility to infection, as well as infertility and increased risk of other cancers developing. This new class of anti-cancer drugs simply puts the cancer cells into a permanent sleep.