UCB has announced “encouraging data” from a phase 2a study of its investigational anti-tau antibody bepranemab in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients.

The TOGETHER study has been evaluating two dose levels of the drug in patients with prodromal-to-mild cases of the neurodegenerative disorder.

Results presented at this year’s Clinical Trials on AD meeting showed that the primary endpoint of Clinical Dementia Rating Scale Sum of Boxes (CDR-SB) total score at week 80 was not met.

However, the company highlighted benefits across key secondary endpoints, with bepranemab slowing the rate of tau accumulation versus placebo in key brain regions by 33-58% at week 80, and slowing cognitive decline by 21-25% versus placebo in the same period.

Improvements also were observed in patients with low tau burden at baseline and APOε4 non-carriers.

A post hoc analysis of these two subgroups showed that high-dose bepranemab slowed the rate of tau accumulation versus placebo in key brain regions by 63-67% at week 80, and slowed clinical disease progression by 29%, as measured by the change in CDR-SB, at week 80.

Researchers led by the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) have identified a potential new treatment approach to slow down the progression of acute myeloid leukaemia (AML).

The discovery published in the EMBO Journal centres around disrupting the function of a certain protein complex that cancer cells rely on to maintain their abnormal growth.

More than 3,100 people are diagnosed with AML, an aggressive form of blood cancer, in the UK every year. The disease is challenging to treat due to its diverse genetic mutations, rapid progression and resistance to existing therapies.

Experiments in cell cultures conducted by the research team showed that inhibiting BPTF, a specific cancer-driving protein within the nucleosome-remodelling factor (NURF) complex, can impair AML’s ability to flourish.

The NURF complex has previously been studied in other types of cancer but not in AML until recently, while BPTF has already been linked to MYC, another gene well known to promote cancer growth in many other types of cancer.

Ultimately, the results identify the formation of an alternative, previously unknown, NURF complex and suggest it could be a potential drug target in AML.

A World Health Organization (WHO) study has listed the top endemic pathogens for which new vaccines are “urgently needed”.

The study details the 17 pathogens that regularly cause diseases in communities and represents the first global effort to “systematically prioritise” endemic pathogens based on criteria such as antimicrobial resistance risk, regional disease burden and socioeconomic impact, WHO said.

Alongside reconfirming long-standing priorities for vaccine research and development, including for malaria, the study identifies pathogens such as Group A streptococcus and Klebsiella pneumoniae as top disease control priorities in all regions.

Vaccines for the pathogens are at different stages of development, WHO outlined, with Group A streptococcus, hepatitis C virus, HIV-1 and Klebsiella pneumoniae on the list of those where vaccine research is needed.

The list of pathogens where vaccines need to be further developed includes cytomegalovirus, influenza virus (broadly protective vaccine), Leishmania species, non-typhoidal Salmonella, norovirus, Plasmodium falciparum (malaria), Shigella species and Staphylococcus aureus.

Meanwhile, the pathogens where vaccines are approaching regulatory approval, policy recommendation or introduction are dengue virus, Group B streptococcus, extra-intestinal pathogenic E. coli, Mycobacterium tuberculosis and respiratory syncytial virus.

A UK study has demonstrated that interventions to reduce respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infections could help to reduce antibiotic prescribing and therefore antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

The new analysis from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), Imperial College London and Oxford Population Health found that RSV infections lead to 640,000 antibiotic prescriptions a year.

RSV is characterised by several mild, cold-like symptoms. Although most people can recover within a week or two, it can cause severe illness in certain groups, including young infants and older adults. Despite antibiotics not working for viruses, they are sometimes prescribed when it is not possible to determine if the infection is bacterial or viral.

After examining data from general practice antibiotic prescriptions alongside laboratory-confirmed respiratory infections from 2015 to 2018, the research team found that approximately 2.1% of antibiotic prescriptions in English GPs were attributable to RSV infections, with the largest number prescribed to those aged over 75 years.

The research, funded by the Medical Research Foundation and National Institute for Health and Care Research, follows the launch of a national RSV vaccination programme in September.