Cardiovascular diseases remain the number one cause of death across the world, claiming an estimated 18 million lives every year. Although statins have been the first line of treatment for reducing cholesterol levels for years. They achieve this by suppressing an enzyme in the liver that is used to make cholesterol, thus lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), or 'bad' cholesterol. Statins are not enough for some patients, though, and this is where ezetimibe steps in.

According to a study in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, a combination of two cholesterol-lowering medications—statins and ezetimibe—may save thousands of lives every year by cutting heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular events by half. This study contradicts the traditional practice of prescribing statins alone and recommends the use of combination therapy immediately in high-risk patients.

Ezetimibe has a different mode of action than statins as it inhibits the absorption of cholesterol in the gut, complementing the effect of the statins. The new research uncovers that prescribing both drugs concurrently from the start, instead of adding ezetimibe subsequently, yields considerably superior results for high-risk patients with cardiovascular disease.

The largest study ever conducted, it pooled data from 14 earlier trials involving 108,353 patients. These patients were at 'very high' risk of developing a heart attack or stroke, or had already developed one. The results strongly support the need to modify treatment strategies in high-risk patients.

The study discovered that the patients who underwent the combination therapy had a 19% lower risk of dying from any cause. There was also a 16% decline in cardiovascular death, which pointed to the substantial effect of the therapy on the heart. The study further found that the major adverse cardiovascular events, such as heart attacks and strokes, decreased by 18% and 17%, respectively. These findings reinforce the effectiveness of combining cholesterol-lowering drugs in reducing mortality and preventing life-threatening cardiovascular complications.

LDL-C levels dropped significantly more in those receiving the combination treatment, increasing the likelihood of reaching the target level of under 70mg/dL by 85%.

Traditionally, statins alone have been prescribed for years, and the physician would later evaluate if extra medicine is required. But based on the findings of the study, physicians ought to prescribe the two drugs at once to those patients who are high-risk patients. This change can save more than 330,000 deaths a year across the globe, including almost 50,000 fatalities in the United States alone, says the study's lead author, Prof. Maciej Banach from Poland's John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin.

This study is conclusive that combination cholesterol-lowering therapy must be entertained forthwith and must be the treatment of choice for very high-risk patients following an acute cardiovascular event," said Prof. Peter Toth, one of the authors of the study.

The strategy not only has the potential to save lives but may also lead to substantial cost savings for healthcare systems through decreased hospitalization and complications from untreated cardiovascular disease. Prevention of heart failure, recurrent strokes, and other catastrophic events would reduce the economic burden of long-term cardiac care.

How Does The Drug Combination Affect Treatment for Cardiovascular Diseases?

High levels of LDL-C contributed to 4.5 million deaths in 2020 independently, with most deaths occurring in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. With the prevalent nature of cardiovascular disease worldwide, implementing combination therapy as the mode of treatment might have far-reaching advantages.

Since statins and ezetimibe are already on the market in clinical practice, implementation of these findings should be relatively easy. Scientists hope that this evidence will be followed by a revision of medical guidelines, motivating healthcare professionals across the globe to become more proactive.

The authors of the study emphasize the need for changing current treatment regimes. Doctors are urged to begin patients on combination therapy immediately, and not to wait and observe whether statins alone can work. Immediate and forceful treatment might be the difference between life and death for thousands of people every year.

"Our results emphasize the wisdom of the saying 'the lower the better for longer,' but also the not-less-important 'the earlier the better' in the treatment of high-risk cardiovascular patients," Toth said.

For individuals, this news is a wake-up call to talk with their healthcare provider about cholesterol control strategies. Knowing the value of combination therapy and fighting for full treatment options could have a major impact on long-term health.

The new evidence is a strong argument for the routine application of combination therapy in controlling cholesterol levels for patients at risk. With a solid body of evidence in favor of its application, physicians everywhere are encouraged to implement this treatment to cut the death toll from cardiovascular disease. As guidelines continue to change, the universal use of this practice could be a new dawn for the prevention of heart disease, saving half a million lives each year.

Cancer is an umbrella term for abnormal excess growth that can occur in any part of the body. Leukemia is the cancer of blood, which means there is rapid growth of abnormal blood cells. This growth starts in the bone marrow, which is where your body makes blood. The Cleveland Clinic explains that unlike other cancers, leukemia does not form a mass or tumor that can be detected in a CT scan.

The usual treatment of Leukemia involves Chemotherapy, whether by pill, injection into your vein or a shot under your skin. Another treatment for it is immunotherapy which uses a drug to boost your body’ defense system so that it can fight the cancer itself. Now, a research by American Association for Cancer Research April 2025, has revealed that a pre-made version of immunotherapy can effectively fight blood cancers. This "off-the-shelf" approach offers a potentially faster and easier way to deliver this powerful therapy to patients in need.

Promising Treatment Against Blood Cancer

This new way to treat blood cancer uses special immune cells called natural killer cells, or NK cells. These NK cells have been changed in a lab to have special tools, called CARs, that help them find and kill cancer cells. What's really helpful is that these CAR NK cells can be made ahead of time from healthy people and stored. This means doctors can just take them off the shelf and give them to patients who need them quickly, without having to wait for a treatment to be made just for them, making the whole process much simpler and faster.

The results from using this ready-made CAR NK cell treatment yielded promising results, especially for people with a type of blood cancer called acute myeloid leukemia, or AML. The scientists found that after getting this treatment, some of the patients with AML had their cancer completely disappear. This is called complete remission, and it means there were no signs of cancer left in their blood. These early successes give a lot of hope for a new and better way to treat this difficult disease.

Notably, AML is a very fast-growing and serious cancer. According to American Cancer Society this cancer develops in the myeloid cell, the cells that would normally become white blood cells. This type of cancer develops quickly, hence needs to be treated with the same urgency.

Who Does This Treatment Help?

The first group of patients who received this ready-made CAR NK cell treatment were people whose leukemia had either stopped responding to other treatments or had come back after treatment. These are often the most difficult cases to treat. The fact that some of these patients had such a good response to the SENTI-202 treatment, which is a safety feature to the SENTI-202 cells. It's like a special switch that stops the NK cells from attacking healthy cells in the body. With their cancer completely disappearing, is a very encouraging sign that this new approach could offer hope to patients who have run out of other options.

More Research Needed To Confirm Safety and Effective

The researchers are hopeful about the new treatment and early success for the treatment. They believe that this ready-made approach could lead to new types of immune therapies that are much easier to produce and give to patients. Researchers emphasized that there's a big need for better treatments for AML, and he hopes this new method can become an important option for these patients who often have very limited choices.

It's important to remember that these are just the first results from an ongoing study. The scientists are still enrolling more patients to learn even more about how safe and how well SENTI-202 works. They need to keep studying it to make sure it's a reliable and effective treatment for more people with blood cancers. Before this treatment can be used widely, the findings need to be carefully reviewed and published in a scientific journal.

The uncertainty around the Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine has been exacerbated by the Trump administration. The new government has imposed new requirements on the nation's only traditional protein-based vaccine. These new requirements have led to many confusions about vaccine updates, including other vaccines too, which await approval.

The Wait For Full Approval Is Too Long

Novavax is the maker of the protein-based COVID-19 vaccine, which was on track to receive full approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by April 1. However, the approval process was paused because of Dr Sara Brenner, the FDA's acting commissioner. The reason for delay has raised many questions about the interference, including political, especially after Dr Peter Marks, FDA's longtime vaccine chief had left following disagreements with Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. These events have further led to the apprehensions of uncertainty regarding the vaccine's future.

As of now, Novavax's vaccine is only authorized for emergency use. Unlike mRNA vaccines form Pfizer and Moderna, which have full approval, the Novavax vaccine holds the EUA or the Emergency Use Authorization, which allows it to be distributed during public health emergencies. However, once the emergency ends, the FDA can remove these vaccines from market unless full approval is granted.

What Caused The Delay?

The FDA had initially planned to approve Novavax's vaccine by its April 1 target date. However, sources familiar with the situation revealed that Trump appointees influenced the delay. Since then, Novavax has been in discussions with the FDA to determine additional requirements for approval. In the meantime, the FDA's recent comments have fueled concerns that Novavax’s vaccine may be treated as a “new product” due to its updates to match last year’s coronavirus strain. This would require new clinical trials, a process unlikely to be completed before the fall.

ALSO READ: Novavax Says FDA Approval Back on Track for Its COVID Vaccine

This approach to Novavax’s vaccine approval stands in stark contrast to the FDA’s treatment of the mRNA vaccines, where annual strain updates have been handled in a way similar to flu vaccines, requiring only small-scale tests to demonstrate the vaccine’s continued effectiveness against new strains. Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert, argued that it would be unnecessary to treat these annual updates as “new products” requiring full trials, as long as the updated vaccines show that they produce protective antibody levels.

Role Of HHS Secretary

Of course Robert F Kennedy Jr will have a role to play, being the Health Secretary, and a known vaccine skeptic. Despite claiming in recent speeches that he is not anti-vaccine, Kennedy’s past associations with anti-vaccine groups have raised alarms. His nonprofit, Children’s Health Defense, has been involved in campaigns questioning vaccine safety, and Kennedy himself has made public statements suggesting that vaccines can cause autism—a long-debunked claim.

His actions have also contributed to the uncertainty that surrounds the Novavax's approval today and the overall direction of US vaccine policies.

Is Novavax Different From Other Vaccines?

What sets Novavax apart from other COVID-19 vaccines is its traditional approach. While Pfizer and Moderna’s mRNA vaccines use genetic instructions to create a temporary version of the virus’ spike protein, Novavax’s vaccine contains lab-grown copies of the spike protein itself. This approach has been used for decades in vaccines for diseases like hepatitis B and shingles, making it a more familiar method for people who may be hesitant about mRNA vaccines.

Danish multinational pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk has launched Wegovy in Thailand, marking the entry of its hugely popular weight loss drug in Southeast Asian market. First launched in 2021, Wegovy helped make Novo Nordisk Europe's most valuable listed company until recently, worth $615 billion at its peak. Wegovy is a semaglutide shot, which means that it is a GLP-1 receptor agonist.

"We actually received the Thai FDA approval already in 2023," said Enrico Canal Bruland, vice president and general manager of Novo's Thai subsidiary. He noted that Novo was making Wegovy available in Thailand ahead of rival Eli Lilly's Zepbound. Wegovy is currently available for prescription in private hospitals around the country and will be available soon in public hospitals. Notably, Bruland declined to provide details on Wegovy's pricing in Thailand, which has a population of around 66 million, or Novo Nordisk's plans for expansion into other Southeast Asian markets.

Notably, the most popular GLP-1 agonist Ozempic was also created by Novo Nordisk. Earlier this month, the pharma giant expanded its research in the field diabetes and weight loss drug and announced that its diabetes pill, Rybelsus, demonstrated cardiovascular benefits in a late-stage trial. The findings pave the way for the medication to become a new treatment option for people living with both diabetes and heart disease.

How Do Semaglutides Work?

Semglutide is the synthetic version of GLP-1—a natural hormone produced in the intestines that regulates blood sugar, appetite, and digestion. Now, every time you eat, your body produces various hormones, including GLP-1. These are called Post nutrition hormones, and help you absorb the energy you just consumed.

GLP-1 travels to your pancreas, prompting it to produce insulin. It also travels to the hypothalamus in your brain, which gives you the feeling of being full or satiated. Ozempic imitates this hormone, thereby, silencing the food chatter in the brain. Interestingly, for some people this food chatter is really quiet ( people with low appetite) and for others it is an outbrurst, (people who generally binge eat.) So with Ozempic, silencing this self-talk in the brain, people tend to lose their appetite and eventually weight.

However, it is important to note that losing weight includes not just fat but muscle as well. Losing too much muscle can lead to reduced strength and a shorter life span. Notably, records show that most people who start taking them stop it at 12 weeks; therefore, it is important for some but not for others.

Notably, last month, US pharma major Eli Lilly launched the obesity management drug Mounjaro in India at one-fifth of the US price. The company rolled out the drug in a single-dose vial following the marketing authorisation from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO). It has been priced at Rs 3,500 for a 2.5 mg vial and Rs 4,375 for a 5 mg vial. "It is a first-of-its-kind treatment for obesity, overweight, and type 2 diabetes that activates both GIP (glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide) and GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) hormone receptors," the company said.