Personalized mRNA Vaccine Cuts Melanoma Recurrence Risk in Phase 3 Trial
A Phase 3 trial presented at ESMO 2026 found that adding a personalized mRNA vaccine to Keytruda after melanoma surgery lowered the risk of the cancer returning. Overall survival has not yet differed significantly, and the full peer-reviewed paper is still to come.
Inside L.A.'s $2 Billion Health Care Fraud Takedown: Sober Homes, Artery Procedures and Hospice Schemes
Federal prosecutors have charged 15 people in a sweep of Los Angeles health care fraud cases. The allegations include an addiction treatment operation that recruited homeless patients, artery procedures performed on people without arterial disease, and hospices that enrolled patients who were not dying.
FDA Approves Hibsago, a First-of-Its-Kind Hepatitis B Drug That Lets Some Patients Stop Treatment
The FDA has approved Hibsago (bepirovirsen), GSK's injectable antisense drug for chronic hepatitis B. In two phase 3 trials, about 19% of patients achieved a functional cure and could stop all treatment. The drug carries a boxed warning for liver reactions and low platelets.
FDA Grants Accelerated Approval to Dostarlimab for dMMR Rectal Cancer, Opening a Path Around Surgery
The FDA has cleared GSK's immunotherapy Jemperli for a small, genetically defined group of patients with locally advanced rectal cancer. In trials, many avoided surgery, radiation and chemotherapy entirely, but the evidence comes from single-arm studies and longer follow-up is still required.
Kansas CEO Sentenced to 19 Years for $1 Billion Medicare Brace Scheme
Four Braces per Patient: Software CEO Gets 19 Years in $1 Billion Medicare Telemedicine Fraud case.
EU Regulators Back Daraxonrasib, the Pill That Nearly Doubled Survival in Advanced Pancreatic Cancer
Europe's medicines committee has recommended approval of daraxonrasib, an oral RAS-targeting drug for metastatic pancreatic cancer. In a 500-patient phase 3 trial, it extended median survival from 6.7 to 13.2 months compared with chemotherapy. Here is what the data show and what remains uncertain. On 26 August 2026, the FDA approved the oral drug daraxonrasib. Former US Senator Ben Sasse took it for stage 4 pancreatic cancer. It shrank his tumors and left him with a nasty bleeding skin rash.
Four Braces per Patient: Software CEO Gets 19 Years in $1 Billion Medicare Telemedicine Fraud
A jury found his web platform churned out doctors' orders for braces that Medicare patients did not need, signed by physicians who often never spoke to them.
4 in 10 High Schoolers Reported Binge Eating in the Past Month, in the CDC’s First National Count
In the CDC’s first national measure of teen binge eating, 40.5% of high school students reported at least one episode in a month, and it was far more common among heavy social media users and teens struggling with their mental health.
Study: 38% of FDA Advisory Meetings Included a Patient or Consumer Rep Tied to a Pharma-Funded Group
Patient and consumer representatives are supposed to bring the public's voice into FDA drug reviews. A new USC analysis finds that in more than 1 in 10 advisory meetings, one of them was affiliated with a group funded by the very company whose drug was on the table.
The Antiseptic Needed an Antiseptic: Kits With Recalled ChloraPrep Applicators Get the FDA’s Most Serious Recall Rating
Hospitals must now destroy entire Medline and AVID Medical kits containing recalled BD ChloraPrep applicators after the FDA assigned its most serious recall rating over possible fungal contamination.
The FDA Promises a Custom-Fit Rulebook for Rare Disease Drugs. Patients Should Read the Fine Print.
The FDA’s new Rare Disease Framework Initiative promises evidence standards tailored to tiny patient populations. What it covers, how to weigh in on October 28, and the questions it leaves open.
Safety Questions Mount Over Vykat XR, the First Approved Drug for Hunger in Prader-Willi Syndrome
Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare genetic condition, and its best-known feature is a hunger that never switches off. The medical term for that is hyperphagia.
Cochrane Review Links Drug-Company Promotion to Less Appropriate, Costlier Prescribing
An updated systematic review of 93 studies finds that gifts, paid meals and marketing to clinicians are associated with worse prescribing, while strong conflict-of-interest policies appear to help.
FDA Approves First Pediatric Heart Valve Designed to Be Expanded as Children Grow
The FDA has approved the Autus Size-Adjustable Valve, the first heart valve designed to be widened by balloon catheter as a child grows. Here is what the 62-patient study showed, and what is still unknown.
Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos: The Patients Were the Real Victims
Elizabeth Holmes was convicted of defrauding investors, not patients. But tens of thousands of people received unreliable Theranos results. Ahead of Nathan Fielder's You Can See Everything, here's what happened to patients and what a real diagnostic test has to prove.
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Honors the Discovery of Light-Gated Ion Channels and the Rise of Optogenetics
The 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine honors Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel for the work behind optogenetics, which uses light to switch nerve cells on and off. The method has changed brain research, but its use as a treatment in people has barely begun.
Cancer Alley's Warning for the AI Data Center Boom
Along an 85-mile stretch of the Mississippi, Louisiana learned what happens when industry outpaces health science. AI data centers are now going up at record speed with many of the same unanswered questions.