Alternative Therapies
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Description
The processes of drug discovery and drug development are very expensive and slow. Furthermore, drug-attrition rates tend to be high: According to the US National Institutes of Health, more than 80% of drugs in development fail before they undergo testing in humans.
Alternative therapies to treat both common and rare diseases will become increasingly attractive to companies and have multiple benefits. For example, such therapies may use low-risk, already-approved drugs and technologies and have potentially lower overall development costs and shorter development timelines than do conventional therapies.
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Abstracts That Inspired This Pattern
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SC-2022-11-02-011: Could VR Reduce the Use of Sedatives in Hand Surgery?
Scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center—a teaching hospital of Harvard University's Harvard Medical School—conducted a trial to determine the ability of virtual-reality (VR) immersion to reduce the need for sedation during hand surgery. The scientists "found that VR immersion during hand surgery led to significant reductions in sedative doses as well as post-operative lengths of stay in the post-anesthesia care unit."
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SC-2022-11-02-018: Repurposing Common Drugs to Treat Diabetes- and Obesity-Associated Illnesses
"Scientists have pinpointed a range of commonly used medicines that could be repurposed to treat people suffering from obesity and diabetes." The scientists used sophisticated computer programs to identify these common medicines, which include medicines that treat heart-rhythm disorders and stomach ulcers.
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SC-2022-11-02-025: Video Calls Improve Cognition of Elderly People at Risk of Alzheimer's Disease
A recent study revealed that participating in 30‑minute video calls four times per week improved brain connectivity, cognition, and happiness in socially isolated elderly people who have mild cognitive impairment.
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SC-2022-11-02-093: Apple's Fertility-Tracking Features Are Not Birth Control
Consumer interest in tracking fertility and nonhormonal birth-control methods is increasing, but medical research falls far short of matching this increasing interest. As a result, technology companies are attempting to provide solutions; however, reproductive-health experts claim that technology companies' testing is insufficiently rigorous for such solutions to gain doctors' trust.