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Volume 19 Issue 4, April 2020

Targeting neutrophils, inspired by the Review on p253.

Cover design: Susanne Harris.

Comment

  • Numerous potential therapeutic targets are being investigated in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Here, we discuss a platform trial approach for designing proof-of-concept (POC) clinical studies of ASD — via the Autism Spectrum POC Initiative (ASPI) — that can be conducted through a public–private partnership with the aim of finding effective treatments in the most expeditious manner.

    • Seth Ness
    • Gahan Pandina
    • Husseini K. Manji
    Comment

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News & Analysis

  • Drug-tolerant persisters, de novo mutations and pre-existing resistance are just some of the ways cancers evade the effects of anti-cancer drugs. Can new targets and new dosing strategies tackle evolutionary forces directly to delay the inevitable?

    • Asher Mullard
    News
  • News in Brief

  • Biobusiness Briefs

  • An Audience With

    • In 2013, Ted W. Love — a former drug developer at Onyx, Genentech and elsewhere and cardiologist by training — came out of retirement to take on sickle cell disease. This inherited blood disorder, in which sickled red blood cells clump together, blocking blood flow and the delivery of oxygen through the body, afflicts nearly 100,000 people in the USA and millions more throughout the world. And yet, until recently, these patients have had few therapeutic options for preventing the organ damage, risk of stroke and severe pain associated with disease. Last year, as CEO of Global Blood Therapeutics, Love secured an FDA approval for his company’s voxelotor, a first-in-class anti-sickling agent that at last takes aim at the underlying pathophysiology of the disease. He spoke with Asher Mullard about the science of voxelotor, his hopes of being able to turn sickle cell disease into a quiescent condition and the FDA’s embrace of surrogate end points in more and more indications.

      • Asher Mullard
      An Audience With
  • From the Analyst's Couch

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Research Highlights

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Reviews

  • Current seasonal influenza vaccines lack efficacy against drifted or pandemic virus strains, and the development of novel vaccines that elicit broader immunity represents a public health priority. Here, Nabel and colleagues discuss approaches to improve vaccine efficacy which harness new insights from influenza antigen structure and human immunity, highlighting major targets, vaccines in development and ongoing challenges.

    • Chih-Jen Wei
    • Michelle C. Crank
    • Gary J. Nabel
    Review Article
  • Neutrophils play diverse roles in various disease processes, including infection, pulmonary diseases, autoimmune and inflammatory disorders, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Here, Mócsai and colleagues provide an overview of the biological and pathological functions of neutrophils, assessing emerging strategies to therapeutically target neutrophils and agents currently under investigation.

    • Tamás Németh
    • Markus Sperandio
    • Attila Mócsai
    Review Article
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Perspectives

  • Oral delivery of peptide therapeutics could have benefits for treatment adherence, but it faces barriers related to the structural organization and physiological function of the gastrointestinal tract. This article highlights strategies to overcome these barriers and discusses experience with oral peptides that have reached clinical trials, including the recent landmark approval of an oral formulation of semaglutide for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

    • Daniel J. Drucker
    Perspective
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Amendments & Corrections

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