Editas Medicine (NASDAQ:EDIT)

Q2 2017 Earnings Conference Call

August 9, 2017 17:00 ET

Executives

Mark Mullikin - Senior Director, Finance & IR

Katrine Bosley - President & CEO

Andrew Hack - CFO

Charles Albright - CSO

Vic Myer - CTO

Analysts

Marc Frahm - Cowen & Company

Cory Kasimov - JP Morgan

Vikram Purohit - Morgan Stanley

Peter Lawson - SunTrust Robinson Humphrey

Operator

Good afternoon and welcome to Editas Medicine's Second Quarter 2017 Financial Results and Update Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that this call is being recorded at Editas Medicine's request.

I would now like to turn the call over to the Editas Medicine team. Please proceed.

Mark Mullikin

Good afternoon. This is Mark Mullikin, Senior Director of Finance and Investor Relations at Editas Medicine. Welcome to our second quarter 2017 conference call.

We issued a press release earlier this afternoon reviewing our second quarter 2017 results and updates regarding the company, which will be covered on this call. A replay of today's call will be available on the Investors & Media section of our website approximately two hours after its completion. After our prepared remarks, we will open the call for Q&A.

As a reminder, various remarks that we make during this call about the company's future expectations, plans and prospects constitute forward looking statements for purposes of the safe harbor provision under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including those discussed in the Risk Factors section of our most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q, which is on file with the SEC.

In addition, any forward-looking statements represent our views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any subsequent date. While we may elect to update these forward looking statements at some point in the future, we specifically disclaim any obligation to do so, even if our views change. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to today.

I will turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Katrine Bosley.

Katrine Bosley

Thanks, Mark. Good afternoon, everybody, and thank you for joining us for our corporate update call for the second quarter. I am joined today by several members of our executive team, including Andrew Hack, our Chief Financial Officer; Vic Myer, our Chief Technology Officer; and Charlie Albright, our Chief Scientific Officer.

We made progress on multiple fronts during the second quarter. On our call today, we'll review how we advanced our product pipeline and platform technology, continued to build the business for the long term and strengthened our organization.

First, I'd like to discuss our pipeline progress and starting with our lead program in Leber congenital amaurosis type 10 or LCA10. We remain on track to file our IND by mid-2018 for EDIT-101, which is our preclinical product candidate for LCA10. There are a number of points about the program I'd like to highlight as well. We are pleased to announce today that we received institutional review board approval for the first site in our LCA10 clinical natural history study.

This is a prospective study that will evaluate patients with LCA10 to assess the course of the disease and it will also assess potential endpoints and aspects of the trial design for interventional clinical studies with EDIT-101 down the road. We anticipate this natural history study will enroll approximately 40 patients, ages three and above at multiple sites in the U.S. and Europe, and will evaluate and follow patients for at least one year. We are currently finalizing logistical details at their clinical trial sites and will then proceed to begin patients' enrollment.

In the second quarter, we received advanced therapy medicinal product or ATMP designation from the European Medicines Agency for EDIT-101 as well. The classification is reserved for new potentially revolutionary medicinal products based on genes, cells or tissues, and it's an essential step in commercializing products effectively across the European Union, and it's an important step for this program.

As you know, we presented data from a nonhuman primate study in our LCA10 program in May at ASGCT. In this study, we demonstrated efficient editing of the CEP290 gene, which causes LCA10 in the retina of nonhuman primates. We showed that we productively edited 15% of the total CEP290 wheels in nonhuman primate retina, and this translates to a projected 50% editing of the CEP290 wheels in photoreceptors, the target cells in the retina. This significantly exceeds our prespecified therapeutic threshold of 10% editing.

We also sought to understand how EDIT-101 performs in mature human photoreceptors. And to do this, we developed a human retinal explant system. And in this system, we obtained human eyes three to five hours postmortem, isolated retinal tissue and exposed the retina to EDIT-101 in tissue culture. After four weeks in culture, we then performed tissue staining and we quantified the editing. That tissue staining showed the Cas9 expression was limited to the photoreceptor layer as we anticipated. We then used our proprietary UDiTas technology to quantify the editing. Similar to our nonhuman primate studies, we measured editing directly in the entire retinal sample and then calculated projected editing in the photoreceptors themselves.

Similar to nonhuman primates, photoreceptors represent only about a 0.25% of the cells in human retinal explants, and the EDIT-101 gene-editing machinery is only expressed in photoreceptors. Our preliminary data from these studies showed productive editing as high as 16% across the entire retina, and based on this, we estimate that we productively edited approximately 50% of the CEP290 wheels in mature human photoreceptors. This data is consistent with what we've seen in experimental animals and was recently presented at the Cold Spring Harbor Genome Engineering Conference.

In addition to achieving potentially therapeutic levels of editing, we aim to create therapies that minimize risks from off-target editing. Developing and applying robust methods for setting specificity has been a fundamental component of our platform from the very beginning. For this reason, it is encouraging that neither our biased nor our unbiased methodologies have detected any off-target editing in the human genome from EDIT-101. Taken together, these results reinforce our confidence in the therapeutic potential of EDIT-101.

Beyond our LCA10 program, we achieved an important technical milestone in our work with Juno Therapeutics. As a reminder, we're working with Juno on three programs combining our genome editing platform with Juno's CAR and TCR technologies to create engineered T-cells to treat cancer. This most recent milestone arises from the program to overcome the tumor microenvironment. Enabled -- enabling T-cells to overcome the tumor microenvironment has the potential to expand the range of cancers that these therapies may be able to address. This program is distinct from the program to improve T cell persistence, in which we previously achieved a technical milestone, and we'll receive a $2.5 million milestone for this achievement from Juno Therapeutics.

Over the course of the quarter, we also presented progress in multiple other programs at scientific conferences. In our discovery program to treat sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia, we demonstrated a substantial increase in fetal hemoglobin protein with a novel genome-editing strategy that has the potential to be more potent than the approaches reported by others in the field. We think this data is a promising foundation to advance a best-in-class therapy for these patients.

We also reported high-efficiency editing using our proprietary CRISPR Cpf1 system in both human T-cells and adult hematopoietic stem cells. Cpf1 is a new CRISPR genome-editing system that substantially expands the range of genomic sites we can target, and it may also have advantages in terms of specificity, manufacturing and delivery. In addition, Cpf1 may enable us to achieve more efficient gene repair relative to Cas9. It's separate and distinct from Cas9, and is underpinned by completely separate intellectual property, which is exclusively licensed to Editas.

We believe the properties of Cpf1 have the potential to expand the reach of our genome-editing medicines even further. Together with our portfolio of multiple Cas9 species and proprietary engineered variance of each, as well as the broad range of propriety platform innovations that we have shown publicly, we believe we have an unparalleled CRISPR platform and product engine, which has the potential to deliver the best and widest range of genome-editing medicines.

Overall, this year, we've demonstrated the productivity of our team and platform through more than 20 presentations and posters at a wide range of scientific and medical conferences and across a range of programs and technical advancements. We expect to present additional progress in multiple programs and platform advancements through the remainder of this year.

Outside of our progress on advancing our pipeline of CRISPR medicines, we have also further strengthened our business and our organization. We have further matured our intellectual property portfolio with the issuance of the first patent for CRISPR Cpf1, which we have exclusively licensed. As a reminder -- Cpf1 is the only CRISPR system in addition to Cas9 that has been made to work in human cells, and although this is only one of many positive patent developments in the quarter, we thought it was worth specifically calling out because we do anticipate Cpf1 will be an important contributor to our pipeline of products and in the field of genome editing broadly.

We continue to further develop our organization by adding key capabilities to our team, including important hires in pharmacology, manufacturing and operations. And we also welcome Andrew Hirsch to our Board of Directors, where in addition to his roll of an independent director, he will serve as the chair of the Audit Committee. He is currently the Chief Financial Officer of Agios Pharmaceuticals.

And now, I'd like to hand the call over to Andrew Hack, our Chief Financial Officer, to review the results from the quarter.

Andrew Hack

Thanks, Katrine. We filed our Form 10-Q after the close today and have summarized our financial statements in the press release that we made available one hour ago.

Starting with the balance sheet and cash flow statement, we ended the quarter with approximately $325 million of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities. Our net cash used in operations was approximate $26 million. Based on our current cash position as well as research support under our collaborations, but excluding any assumption for future business development transactions or milestones, we believe we have at least 24 months of capital to fund the business.

Turning to the income statement, we began recognizing revenue from the Allergan upfront payment with a total of $2.4 million being recorded in the quarter. In addition, we recognized $0.7 million of revenue related to our Juno collaboration.

Moving down the income statement to research and development, it's worth noting that the results in the quarter include a $5.1 million payment to our licensors related to the Allergan upfront. Key noncash items recorded in our income statement in the quarter includes $5 million of stock-based compensation.

Overall, our financial performance so far this year has been in line with our expectations, and we expect that we have the capital we need to fund the advancement of multiple therapeutic programs in parallel, while also further extending our technology leadership.

And with that, I'll hand it back to Katrine.

Katrine Bosley

Thank you, Andrew. As we're at the midpoint of 2017, I'd like to close by reviewing where we stand with respect to our most important corporate goals. Through our strategic alliance with Allergan, we have achieved our goal of establishing a significant additional alliance which is in line with our business development strategy. Pipeline progress includes demonstrating preclinical proof-of-concept and high specificity for our LCA10 program, achievement of a technical milestone in one of our Juno programs and data presentations from several other early programs. We remain on track to initiate our LCA10 clinical natural history study as planned and to submit an IND for EDIT-101 by mid-2018. And finally, we continue to build an outstanding organization and culture that we believe will enable us to drive the creation of this new class of medicines.

We're actually approaching the 4-year anniversary of the founding of Editas, and I've been in this industry a long time. And reflecting on these four years, it's hard to compare it to any other company or fields that I know. The implications for medicine and for patients who have, as yet, untreatable diseases; the scientific intensity as we work to overcome challenges translating the science into medicines; the intensity of the public spotlight from many directions, given the profound implication for this the technology, we bear great responsibility to patients, to their families and to society broadly. We take that very seriously. We're here for the long term, and I think we are very well-positioned to take the next steps in this revolutionary field.

So we thank you for your continued interest and support. And with that, we will open it up for questions and answer. Operator?

Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And our first question comes from Marc Frahm from Cowen & Company. Your line is open.

Marc Frahm

Hi, thanks for taking my question. First is -- one question just on the -- going back to the delay that happened last quarter; I mean, has the -- at the time of the last call kind of the precursor molecules had been -- products had been made. Has the AAV now been made? And if so, is that set of technological studies waiting on that AAV the only thing that needs to be done to get the IND ready or are there other kind of modules that you need to work on still?

Katrine Bosley

So I'll ask Vic to speak to the manufacturing timing and with regard to the work between us and the IND. You're sort of pointing to the right point, it's the normal work to get to an IND, which is completing the preclinical safety studies. Other things go alongside that, but that's -- here, as pretty much with any other drug, the critical path to the IND is usually the safety and that's the case here too.

Vic Myer

Yes. So not much here to add beyond the fact that we're on track for our mid-2018 and so all the production is moving forward as planned.

Marc Frahm

Okay. And then I guess another kind of question longer term in the pipeline. Maybe, now that you're getting closer to this IND, when do think you'd be in a position to name what the next official candidate would be? I mean, you made some presentations in hemoglobinopathy, also previously some alpha-1 antitrypsin, which ones are kind of coming to the fore? And is there really more preclinical work that needs to be done to make a selection? Or is it kind of market research and making sure that you know kind of the path forward that's going to determine which one you choose?

Katrine Bosley

Yes. So let me ask Charlie Albright to speak to the question of our pipeline and how that is emerging.

Charles Albright

Thanks for the question. We do have -- we are active -- quite active on other programs in the portfolio. As you've already mentioned, we made presentations at the ASGCT meeting on our sickle cell program and our alpha-1 antitrypsin program. And in both cases, we made significant advances. In the sickle cell program, we have identified new sites that allow us to achieve levels of fetal hemoglobin expression that we're quite excited about. And then the alpha-1 antitrypsin program, we showed we're able to efficiently edit liver cells in a mouse -- in a mouse model of the disease and effectively reduced the circulating levels of alpha-1 antitrypsin.

So both of these programs have made significant progress. They remain in the preclinical stage, as do our other programs, but we have a portfolio that's defined and not -- and is not limited by market research, it's limited by scientific progress.

Marc Frahm

Great, thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from Cory Kasimov from JP Morgan.

Cory Kasimov

Good afternoon guys, thank for taking my questions. So I guess first with regard to the differentiation in potential advantages you discussed for Cpf1 over Cas9. Can you talk about how you see this system being used over time? And do you plan to use both or -- and keep both going indefinitely? Or would your expectation be that you eventually transition over to Cpf1? And I have a follow-up.

Katrine Bosley

Yes. So I'll ask Vic to talk about this in a bit more detail, but broadly speaking, we're here to make genome-editing medicines, and we want to have the most robust toolkit to do that, so that for any given gene we can find the best solution. Vic?

Vic Myer

Yes. As I think you've pointed out, there's a couple of differences with Cpf1 that we think make it a really interesting enzyme. We do think it complements Cas9 and it's not necessarily going to supplant Cas9, and it's going to ultimately be sort of a case-by-case edit-by-edit sort of question. What we're really set up to do now is to test multiple enzymes for any given program and then pick the one that looks the most active and the most specific. Cpf1 is distinct from Cas9 in that it's got a very different PAM recognition motif so that it greatly increases our genome targeting space. Secondly, it's got a small single-guide RNA. So as we think about RNP-based manufacturing, it's got some definite CMC advantages. And the third thing that we know about the enzyme is it leaves a different cut.

So it's not a blunt cut, it's actually a staggered cut, and that leads to a different resolution by the cells. So you actually get a different editing outcome using Cpf1. And so for any given program, we'll often test both enzymes side-by-side and pick the one that looks the best.

Cory Kasimov

Okay, great, that's helpful. And then the follow-up is, is there anything else that you can say on the milestone achieved in the Juno collaboration? I guess, what comes next there? And how close is this technology to be implemented in the clinic when you think about the combination of the genome editing with CAR-T?

Katrine Bosley

Yes, so we haven't disclosed further details about the specifics of the technical milestone, although, we and Juno do work together to share data at scientific meetings. We've done that in the past and I would anticipate we'll continue to work together to do that where it makes sense going forward. We haven't -- with them, we haven't disclosed specific timelines on those programs yet, but our work with them continues to reinforce. The reason we wanted to work with them in first place was that they really do have that broad expansive mission and view of how CAR-T and engineered T-cells can be made into therapies on a broader basis, and how genome editing can further enable that.

So the reason we started the collaboration continues to really to ring true through the two years we've been working together. We've made nice progress together. And I know everybody is always eager for timelines and we are too, but we'll have to share those in due course.

Cory Kasimov

Okay. Thanks for taking the questions.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Matthew Harrison from Morgan Stanley. Your line is open.

Vikram Purohit

Hi, thanks. This is Vikram on for Matthew. So just one question from our side. For the LCA10 program, do you expect to provide a new additional disclosure before filing the IND in mid-2018? And for the program, do you envision needing an RSA -- RAC meeting?

Katrine Bosley

Sure. So I think that we try to be pretty transparent about our programs and how they're moving forward. Certainly, you've seen us regularly present at scientific meetings and that's the best first forum for new data. So I'm not projecting what specific data we'll present at which meetings. I think we certainly want to continue to be communicative about our science in LCA10 as well as our other programs. With regard to the RAC at the NIH, we do anticipate that, that will apply here.

Certainly if you look at how the RAC provides the way of working a year or so, with that incorporated, understanding the genome editing -- anticipated genome editing programs and the way that they revise their rules, we would anticipate that these programs would go to the RAC, yes.

Vikram Purohit

That's helpful, thank you.

Operator

Thank you. And our next question comes from Peter Lawson from SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Your line is open.

Peter Lawson

Katrine, just thinking about natural clinical history data. Is that going to be a mid-2018 event?

Katrine Bosley

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Editas Medicine's (EDIT) CEO Katrine Bosley on Q2 2017 Results - Earnings Call Transcript - Seeking Alpha

ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- July was a busy month for the U of R Medical Center. At one point surgeons there performed three heart transplants in just one week.

One of the those patients who received that life-saving surgery expressed their relief.

"I feel great, and my heart survived the Bills game!" said Tom Mancuso, Livonia.

He's sharing some humor in light of a serious sitution. He's one of three men who had heart transplants just a couple weeks ago at the hospital.

UR Medicine typically performs only 14 heart transplants each year.

"You don't have a choice of when it comes and obviously we're very appreciative a donor has come for one of our patients. When the time comes we just have to go, and even if we had two or three in the same day we'd try very hard to pull it off," said Dr. Leway Chen, Heart Transplant Medical Director.

Strong Memorial Hospital currently has 25 other people on the waiting list for a new heart. Doctors wants to remind you New York has a severe shortage of registered organ donors..

Anyone can opt to be an organ donor through the DMV.

View original post here:

UR Medicine performs 3 heart transplants in 1 week - Spectrum News

John Bennett Jr. sat in a cushioned chair, stretched out his left arm and watched as Blanca Steffens filled a vial with his blood on a recent afternoon inside the clinical lab at AtlantiCare Physician Group Primary Care Plus in Northfield.

With just a little bit of that blood, researchers and geneticists with Geisinger Healths MyCode project will be able to tell Bennett whether his DNA carries genetic markers for certain diseases and health conditions.

The field of genomics has grown by leaps and bounds, and the testing once reserved for a select few has become available on a large scale. Dubbedprecision or predictive medicine, researchers hope to use genetic information to improve disease prevention, treatment and outcomes.

Rather than waiting for people to get sick, we can identify risks in people earlier and may prevent them from getting sick, said Andrew Faucett, director of policy and education in Geisingers Office of the Chief Scientific Officer. Its less expensive to keep someone healthy than it is to care for them sick.

Pennsylvania-based Geisinger launched MyCode in 2014 across its system of heath providers and hospitals, and now works with Regeneron Genetics Center. MyCode came to AtlantiCare locations and patients one year after it merged with Geisinger in 2015.

Faucett, also a professor atGeisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine, said theprogram has enrolled more than 150,000 patients, more than 10,000 of whom are from AtlantiCare.

Officials say the program intends to eventually include 250,000 enrollees. DNA has been analyzed so far for about 60 percent of participants as of Aug. 1, MyCode reports show.

Bennett, 55, of Somers Point, had read about the rise of genetic testing in medicine and had a family member who had it done years ago, so he jumped at the chance to participate in MyCode when the opportunity came, he said.

Anything to do to help with medical research and Im in, he said.

By collecting and analyzing genetic data from more than 150,000 people, Faucett said, researchers will be able to conduct comprehensive studies on how diseases can affect large populations.

For health providers and their patients, test results can provide information about a persons risk of developing certain disorders, such as cancers or cardiovascular conditions. Results can lead to discussions about medical care decisions with doctors and genetic counselors.

Scientists with the National Human Genome Research Institute completed sequencing of the human genome, or the complete human set of genetic instructions, in April 2003.

Experts can now look at someones DNA to see if their genetic coding has irregularities. A gene change can confirm if a person already has a disease, may develop a disease or is at risk of passing along a genetic disorder to his or her children.

Genetics can tell if a woman has a BRCA-1 or -2 gene mutation, which puts her at an increased risk for breast cancer, Faucett said. Now, she can use mammograms or preventative surgery to avoid cancer, or an advanced case.

Before genetic testing was more accessible to the general population, it was used primarily for patients at risk of rare conditions, such as Huntingtons disease, sickle cell disease, cystic fibrosis and others.

The MyCode program looks for variations in 76 genes associated with 27 clinically actionable disorders, or medical issues that can be prevented or managed better with knowledge of the gene mutation. The program does not test for Alzheimers disease or some rare conditions like those mentioned previously.

Faucett said preventive measures and sometimes treatment can be a one-size-fits-all approach, similar to how adults are generally recommended for colonoscopies starting at age 50, or women for mammograms starting at age 40 or 45.

But if someone has an identified gene mutation for colon or breast cancer, testing may be recommended at earlier ages. Faucett said genetic results for one person may also influence other family members to be more aware that they too may be more susceptible to these disorders.

Jessica Romanowski, research consenter for the MyCode program at AtlantiCare, explained to Bennett that it could take several months for his results. If there is a gene variation, Romanowski said, researchers will notify his primary care physician, who will schedule a follow-up with Bennett.

If they are gung-ho for research, (patients) are usually really supportive about participating, she said. Also, people want to know how it will benefit them. Some want to know about privacy and what will happen with their DNA. Patient privacy and confidentiality are very important to us.

A patients genetic information and results for the research end of things is identified only by a number, Faucett said. When variations are identified, researchers directly contact the patient's physician.

Under the program's current list of medically actionable diseases, Faucett said, about 3.5 percent of patients will get a call from their physicians with a positive, or gene-variation, result.

Because it is a research program, there is no cost to participate for patients who consent at any AtlantiCare Physician Group primary care location, the obstetrics and gynecology office or AtlantiCare Health Park, both in Egg Harbor Township. More specialty locations are being added, AtlantiCare officials said.

Faucett said much remains to be discovered in genomics, but Geisinger plans to use collected data to more precisely understand diseases, which may lead to solutions on how to better prevent or predict their occurrence in people.

Sometime in next five to 20 years, having your genes looked at will be part of normal care, he said. "Theres still a lot to learn how to use those results, but were learning. Its very exciting.

Follow this link:

MyCode genetics program brings predictive medicine to South Jersey - Press of Atlantic City

Be it lucrative income or parental pressure, studying medicine has become an obsession for high schoolers, pushing them to take up life science courses in high school to prepare for the daunting task of scoring high in the university entrance exam, Concour. According to Fardanews.com, recent statistics reveal a gradual but visible shift in students preference from mathematics and humanities to life science courses, raising concern among education officials. To curb the trend, the Education Ministry announced last year a limit on the number of students who were allowed to study life sciences, much to the chagrin of both students and parents. The vocal protests even dragged President Hassan Rouhani into the mix, who said it was wrong to impose restrictions on students and everyone must be allowed to study what they please. With the restrictions now removed, high schools find themselves under pressure to cater to the number of students seeking to enroll in the limited life science courses. Moreover, only one in 30 students who sit the Concour score high enough to major in medicine, meaning the vast majority of students have to prepare themselves for what can only be described as emotional trauma. Those who fail to get the necessary score find themselves at a crossroads: Either settle for another major which their Concour score allows them to enroll in, or wait another year and try for medicine again. Becoming a doctor has become such a debilitating obsession that two years ago, an undergraduate student at Sharif University of Technologyone of the most prestigious centers of higher learning in Irantook time off from studies to take the Concour for medicine. Worse yet, according to Dr. Alireza Zali, president of the Iran Medical Council, nearly half of all medical graduates leave Iran in search of greener pastures. Not only do we lose intelligent people, but weve essentially spent resources on educating and training people for other countries. Experts say one effective measure that wouldnt encroach on students right to pick a major is to seek help from career councilors at high schools, who can theoretically encourage students to consider non-medicine related majors. If the present trend holds, Iran runs the risk of having a glut of medical practitioners who will eventually leave the country, and a scarcity of specialists in other fields. At the end, the society stands to lose.

Link:

Obsession With Studying Medicine - Financial Tribune

RICHMOND Its amazing some of our ancestors lived as long as they did not because of the illnesses they faced, but because of their cures. Back in the 1800s, there were few medicines that did not contain some form of alcohol or dangerous, addictive drug; cough medicines with cocaine to stimulate the body, under-the-weather syrups with opium for pain relief, little bottles of chloroform to help one get to sleep. Whats most disturbing about the potential danger there was in using these over-the-counter medicines is that they were distributed as freely to babies and children as they were to adults.

Clear glass bottles of laudanum, a derivative of opium, was sold to help sleepless babies. Paregoric, another opium product used for diarrhea, warned this is a dangerous preparation, especially for children but went on to list a dosage table: a baby of three days old may take two drops, a baby of one week old may take four drops, a baby of six months old may take six drops, a one-year-old child may take ten drops, and a five-year-old may take twenty drops. The concoction was comprised of forty-six percent alcohol and 1.82 grams of opium per fluid ounce.

On September 3, 1894, Ernest and Henrietta Callaghan of Main Street in Carolina lost their six-day-old son who hadnt yet been named. An Irish immigrant and long-time cigar-maker for the Cross family of Charlestown, Ernest had experienced fatherhood four times previous to the latest birth, and had just buried another child, 1-year-old Walter, less than a month before. While Walter had succumbed to cholera, the newest additions cause of death was listed as Russells White Drops.

However, it would be nineteen years before the company that produced the anti-convulsion medicine Russells White Drops would find themselves held accountable for being the cause of infant deaths. It was determined that the company failed to properly label the amount of codeine and alcohol in their drops. While the label on the bottle declared it to be safe for babies and children, the Food & Drug Administration discovered that it was entirely unsafe for the young.

While many adults found themselves addicted to cocaine and opium during the 1800s, through their use of over-the-counter pain and cough medications, the efforts to use the same cures for their infants maladies unfortunately had a great likelihood of proving to be a fatal decision.

Go here to read the rest:

Baby medicine much stronger in 1800s - Ricentral.com

Sanofi (NYSE: SNY) has had a bumper year thus far. Its revenue has exceeded analysts expectations and its share price jumped more than 20% YTD. It has outperformed the S&P 500 as well as the NYSE ARCA Pharmaceutical Index. That performance means Sanofi has successfully dodged the struggles plaguing other pharmaceutical firms after the shenanigans surrounding the late American Health Care Act. But a series of scandals and changing political attitudes have sounded alarm bells for the companys fortunes.

As Bon Jovi put it in his 1988 ballad: It'll take more than a doctor to prescribe a remedy. I got lots of money, but it isn't what I need. More than anywhere else in the world, access to medicine in the United States is predicated on a patients ability to pay and since American patients often pay far more for the same drugs, Sanofi, as well as most of its peers, are in for some choppy waters ahead.

A recent Health Affairs study comparing drug prices revealed that Americans pay on average more than a 60% premium over other Western nations all while unravelling the pharmaceutical industrys arguments that hiking prices pays for research & development. Companies including Biogen (BIIB), Amgen (AMGN) and Pfizer (PFE) were estimated to have spent less than half their 2015 profits from US premium prices on R&D. Bad press, especially in light of pharma-bro Martin Shkrelis unscrupulous drug price gouging and (unrelated) conviction for fraud, is adding to growing anti-pharma sentiment and making it harder for the industry to fix its public image.

Drug pricing has likewise been occupying President Trump, as he re-entered the fray with a speech in March, calling the prices of prescription drugs "outrageous" and prompting a dip in both the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index and the S&P Biotech ETF (XBI). Since the market reaction was more muted than his January lambasting of drug makers when he claimed they "are getting away with murder", it seems the sensitivity to Trump outbursts and policy threats is waning. Trump did however vow to tackle the issue of drug pricing after successful 'repealing and replacing' Obamacare, and, with the American Health Care Acts spectacular failure, the Trump administration may yet turn the erstwhile rhetoric into a determined focus on enacting valuable policy to get drug prices down. With public sentiment clearly against Big Pharma, any such action with both public and bipartisan support - could be a (relatively) quick and (comparatively) easy win. It may also serve as a valuable measure to reconnect and appease his electoral base.

One sure way to strain high cost is encouraging price completion through generic alternatives. A development that investors should take heed of is the Federal Drug Administration's (FDA) "Drug Competition Action Plan" - announced in May - in which they pledge to reduce the time taken to approve generic versions of branded drugs. Another, albeit less celebrated piece of legislation is a bipartisan solution being re-introduced to curb anti-competitive practices that have historically stymied market entry to lower-cost generic drugs. The Creating and Restoring Equal Access to Equivalent Samples (CREATES) Act, will introduce measures allowing generic drug makers to seek legal recourse to force brand-drug companies to supply samples: a process required in order to allow the generic drug maker to test and produce the generic alternatives. The bill would moreover authorize the Federal Trade Commission to prohibit a popular tactic employed by big drug makers known as "pay for delay", whereby pharmaceutical firms pay rival drug makers to delay introducing generics on the market a tactic that is currently not prohibited.

Increased competition should be in the public interest, and serve as a boon for generic drug-makers. Investors holding long positions in large pharmaceuticals may be wise to investigate how and if this legislation may have an impact on selected firms, and how it could benefit generic drug makers.

And while quarterly revenues look good, Sanofi is slogging through its own unique pricing scandal. In one particularly alarming example, Americans pay nearly 10 times more for Sanofis multiple sclerosis drug Aubagio than their French counterparts. Senator Bernie Sanders, who has the pharma industry firmly in his sights and is currently pushing a plan to let Americans buy prescription drugs from abroad, penned an op-ed in the New York Times back in March putting Sanofi on the spot for the terms of an agreement between the Paris-based CAC40 company and the U.S. government.

On the face of it, the deal is fairly straightforward: in response to the Zika epidemic that started in Brazil in April 2015, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (a part of the U.S. Department of Defense), signed an agreement with Sanofi Pasteur (a division of Sanofi) in September 2016 to start the development of a vaccine. Sanofi was awarded a $43 million grant, and the government has promised another $130 million to conduct further phases of development and various phases of the drug trials.

The need for a Zika vaccine is self-explanatory. Any outbreak can have a devastating impact, both in terms of loss of life and economic output. The World Bank estimated that the Ebola crisis of 2013 2016 in West Africa wiped as much as 4% of growth of Guinea and 8% of that of Liberia. Sanofi has extensive experience in developing vaccines - it is one of their main business lines - and developing a Zika vaccine means utilizing advances the company previously and successfully developed for both its dengue fever and Japanese encephalitis vaccines. All three belong to the same family of viruses, and are transmitted by the same type of mosquito.

Though the justifications for the deal between Sanofi and the U.S. Army are sound, the parts of the agreement provoking Senator Sanders ire have to do with the Armys decision to grant the company an exclusive license to sell the vaccine in the U.S. Pricing practices in the U.S. are such that any vaccine from the public-private tie up could well be too expensive for most Americans, despite the fact that American taxpayer dollars are funding its development.

Matters escalated when the Army, responding to Sanders, requested Sanofi make a commitment to fair pricing and the company reportedly refused (for the record, the company insists no such rejection has occurred). Senator Sanders and Congressman Peter DeFazio of Oregon have now responded by proposing a new rule (introduced as an amendment to the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act) requiring drug makers to levy fair prices for drugs developed with taxpayer-backed research. An amendment to military spending authorization that would allow the Department of Defense to open tenders to other drug makers when it helped fund research is currently making its way through Congress.

Sanofis pricing controversy illustrates one of the potential shortcomings of public-private partnerships in a context where drug prices are artificially inflated. According to conventional wisdom, Big Pharma has far less market incentive to develop drugs for Zika and other similar neglected diseases. To bring private sector companies on board, the thinking goes, the public sector has to make it worth their while.

And yet, some non-profit organisations have managed to develop successful, extremely cost-effective solutions for treating neglected diseases at far lower costs than major pharmaceuticals companies. One of those non-profits Sanofi should look to is the Drugs for Neglected Disease Initiative (D.N.D.I), founded in 1999. The D.N.D.I. has already developed seven approved, patent-free, low-cost treatments for neglected diseases. It succeeds in piggybacking on, and paying for, established infrastructure through government and grant funding relying on the so-called product development partnership (PDP) model.

PDPs keep costs down through collaboration either with universities, governments or the pharmaceutical industry itself. If anything, the model that D.N.D.I employs serves as a proof of concept that an organisation without any profit objective can develop and deploy medications at a fraction of the cost of global drug makers. The D.N.D.I has a further 26 drugs currently under development. Tallying together its completed drugs and ongoing projects, the non-profit has thus far spent $290 million much less than what a typical pharmaceutical company would spend to develop just one drug. Sanofi itself partnered with the D.N.D.I. to develop and produce the ASAQ Winthrop malaria treatment.

While for-profit drug companies can hardly be expected to adopt D.N.D.I.s business model, the dispute over Zika vaccine pricing has nevertheless overshadowed some highly successful public-private partnerships in which private companies have taken on neglected diseases without a profit motive. This was the case with West Africas Ebola outbreak in December 2013, in which a number of private firms partnered with both local and outside governments to address what was otherwise an unmitigated medical calamity.

In West Africa, some of the most impactful partnerships came from outside the pharmaceuticals industry. The Gavi global vaccine alliance may have partnered with Merck on the latters Ebola vaccine, but the Russian aluminium producer UC Rusal also partnered with the Russian government to develop Ebola vaccines now being deployed to Guinea. At the height of the outbreak, Rusal leveraged its extensive operations in the country the epicentre of the Ebola outbreak to establish a local Centre for Microbiological Research and Treatment of Epidemic Diseases, investing $10 million and donating medicines, sanitary and hygiene items to the Guinean Ministry of Health from 2014.

When compared to those fruitful, mutually beneficial examples, the dust-up between Sanofi and the U.S. government over developing the Zika vaccine seems to be an anomaly. Nonetheless, Sanofis clumsy response to Congressional criticism may have already contributed to a bipartisan backlash against the industry as a whole. A growing chorus of lawmakers is targeting the seemingly predatory pricing schemes employed by drug makers in the U.S. New legislation is ripe for the making: the U.S. counts as a nearly unique exception of a developed nation with no drug price regulation policy, and pressure is mounting from politicians, physicians, and also the FDA to seriously address the regulation of drug pricing.

And while the government is currently unable to negotiate drug pricing as part of Medicaids so-called "Part D" program (which covers most prescription drugs and constitute 25% of large pharmaceuticals gross sales), the practice is being reviewed and does not carry the favour of the current administration.

If the U.S. finally does close its drug pricing loopholes, the pharmaceutical giants will be even more reliant on emerging market sales for their profit margins. Sanofis emerging market sales, as per their Q-2 earning report, grew by 6.6% year-on-year at constant exchange rates, compared to a 2.7% decline in the U.S. With that in mind, it would be good business for these firms who carry an inherent moral responsibility to do good to engage in fruitful, balanced R&D partnerships with the public sector. As Bill Gates declared at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos this year, the world remains tragically unprepared for the next epidemic.

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

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Sanofi's Zika Standoff: Bad Medicine? - Seeking Alpha

Yale News

Using only alternative medicine for cancer linked to lower survival rate Yale News There is increasing interest by patients and families in pursuing alternative medicine as opposed to conventional cancer treatment. This trend has created a difficult situation for patients and providers. Although it is widely believed that ... Alternative medicine only treatment linked to lower cancer survivalUPI.com all 3 news articles »

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Using only alternative medicine for cancer linked to lower survival rate - Yale News

Below youll find an unhurried interview with Dr. Adam Gazzaley, who runs one of the West Coasts largest neuroscience labs at UCSF. There, his team carefully crafts video games with the potential to cure a wide range of neurological ailments.

Machine learning algorithms have successfully identified plant species in massive herbaria just by looking at the dried specimens. According to researchers, similar AI approaches could also be used identify the likes of fly larvae and plant fossils. From Nature: There are roughly 3,000 herbaria in the world, hosting an estimated 350 million specimens only []

In this TEDx Talk, science writer and umbraphile (an eclipse chaser) David Baron emphasizes the importance of witnessing a total solar eclipse firsthand (eye?) at least once in your lifetime.

On August 20 and September 5, 1977, NASA launched two spacecraft, Voyager 1 and 2, on a grand tour of the solar system and into the mysteries of interstellar space. It was an incredibly audacious mission, and its still going. My friend Timothy Ferris produced the Voyager golden record thats attached to each of the []

This project management bundle will help you get organized and learn how to lead a team to success. You can pay what you want for these five courses when you pick them up from the Boing Boing Store.To help you become an invaluable asset for your company, this bundle includes a curated collection of professional []

Despite the push towards USB-C as the one connector to rule them all, most peripherals in the wild are still largely USB-A. Since theres little reason to upgrade all of your old flash drives, wired keyboards, and game controllers, youll need a decent hub to keep them all talking to your new computer.The MondoHub Master []

You dont always have to pay out the nose for household items, everyday accessories, or memorable gifts. If youre searching for something unexpected that can be had for less than two sawbucks, take a look at the following goods:20oz Insulated Water Bottle ($18.99)This stainless steel water bottle is double-walled with vacuum-sealed insulation to keep drinks []

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After On Podcast #2: Video Games as Medicine? - Boing Boing

The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) recently expanded their ability to accept donations in cryptocurrency. In addition to bitcoin, the nonprofit will now accept Litecoin and Ethereum. To celebrate their partnership with the cryptocurrency community, DecentraNet and HSW are hosting a cocktail cruise and art auction on August 13 to raise funds for MAPS.

Also read:Breadwallets Bitcoin Cash Tool Arrives Next Week Full Client Coming Soon

The cryptocurrency funds will be used by MAPS to initiate phase 3 clinical trials for MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. The goal of this therapy is to help sufferers of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) using the quasi-psychedelic substance MDMA. MAPS has been working closely with the FDA in order to complete the studies. If they raise $12.5 million they should be able to make MDMA a legal medicine by 2021.

Their press release elaborated, This year, working closely with the U.S. Food and DrugAdministration (FDA), MAPS is initiating Phase 3 clinical trials of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD. These trials will build on the results of MAPS completed Phase 2 trials, in which two-thirds of participants with chronic, treatment-resistant PTSD no longer had PTSD after just two sessions of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. MAPS anticipates FDA approval for the prescription use of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD by 2021provided the research receives the necessary funding.

For anyone unfamiliar, MDMA is a chemical compound that is usually referred to as ecstasy or molly on the streets. MDMA stands formethylenedioxymethamphetamine. It is a psychoactive drug that causes people enter into an altered state of consciousness. They become introspective, less defensive, courageous, and highly empathetic. The compound also heightens the sense of touch, causing the person to touch themselves and others often and with enthusiasm.

MDMA also helps dissolve barriers to personal exploration. It allows people to resolve latent trauma without as much fear and apprehension. This is what makes it an exemplary drug within the context of a therapeutic setting. In this environment, clients who take MDMA and work with a trained professional can tackle their latent traumas with courage and love.

Luckily, the rise of cryptocurrency has provided a new form of fundraising for MAPS, which may lead to the eventual legalization of this helpful drug.

The founder of MAPS, Rick Doblin, explained that cryptocurrency has brought much needed innovation to the financial market. It has thus allowed MAPS the opportunity to grow as a result. For example, MAPS first began accepting bitcoin donations in 2013. Since then, the crypto-ecosystem has donated about 115 bitcoins to the organization. The press release elaborated:

MAPS was an early supporter of cryptocurrency donations, first accepting Bitcoin donations in December 2013. The cryptocurrency community has been eager to contribute to MAPS work, donating more than 115BTC to date, valued over $64,800. These gifts have helped fund MAPSinternational psychedelic research, public education, psychedelic harm reduction, and advocacy projects.

MAPS is now continuing their tradition of partnering with the cryptocurrency community to further their agenda of helping to heal the world. They may even add more cryptocurrencies to their list of accepted donation funds in the near future.

MAPS was originally founded in 1986 and isa 501(c)(3) non-profit research and educational organization that develops medical, legal, and cultural contexts for people to benefit from the careful uses of psychedelics and marijuana.

What do you think about cryptocurrency communities being involved with psychedelic medicinal research? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, bluelight.org, and MAPS

At Bitcoin.com theres a bunch of free helpful services. For instance, have you seen our Tools page? You can even lookup the exchange rate for a transaction in the past. Or calculate the value of your current holdings. Or create a paper wallet. And much more.

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MAPS to Accept Altcoins for Research on MDMA Psychedelic Medicine - Bitcoin News (press release)

Yale News

Using alternative medicine only for cancer linked to lower survival rate Yale News There is increasing interest by patients and families in pursuing alternative medicine as opposed to conventional cancer treatment. This trend has created a difficult situation for patients and providers. Although it is widely believed that ... and more »

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Using alternative medicine only for cancer linked to lower survival rate - Yale News

A U.S. Senate bill that would name two Billings veterans clinics after local war heroes passed the United States Senate last week.

Cosponsored by Sens. Steve Daines, a Republican, and Jon Tester, a Democrat, S. 1282 would name two U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Clinics on the West End after Joe Medicine Crow and Ben Steele.

If passed, Medicine Crow's name would adorn the VA's outpatient clinic. The specialty clinic would be named after Steele.

The bill would also name a Missoula VA clinic after World War II vet David J. Thatcher, who participated in the Doolittle Raid in response to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

It passed the Senate on Aug. 2.

David Thatcher, Joe Medicine Crow, and Ben Steele are Montanas heroes and Americas heroes, Tester said in a press release. These three represent the greatest generation and what is best about Montana, and today we are one step closer to ensuring future generations will forever remember their brave service."

Steele and Medicine Crow, both of whom died in 2016, are celebrated area veterans.

Known as the last Crow war chief, Medicine Crow joined the Army in 1943. During his service he fulfilled the requirements needed to be a war chief, which are leading a war party, touching the first fallen enemy and stealing his weapon, and entering an enemy camp and stealing horses.

Medicine Crow was a lifelong ambassador for the Crow tribe. Among his honors is the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which he received from President Barack Obama in 2009.

Steele joined the Army Air Corps in 1940 and is well-known as a survivor of the Bataan Death March, a perilous journey for prisoners of war at the hands of the Japanese.

Steele later captured that experience in his artwork. After the war, he honed that craft as an art teacher at Eastern Montana College, now Montana State University Billings.

Both men have already been honored by the Billings school district. Medicine Crow Middle School opened its doors for the 2016 school year last fall. Ben Steele Middle School is scheduled to open this coming fall.

S. 1282 will go to the U.S. House of Representatives for consideration.

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Bill would name Billings VA clinics after Ben Steele, Joe Medicine Crow - Billings Gazette

Photo: Stocksy/Bonninstudio

1/5

Sometimes kicking it old school is the best way to solve a problem. Gulping down water works just as well (or better) than popping an Advil when you have a headache, and a dip in the oceancan replace ointment if you need a soothing cure for skin inflammation. So when it comes to acne,its no surprise that takingan ancient approach can work wonders.

One of the oldest healing methods in the book? Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Chinese Medicine is a foundational-based medicine that looks at the root of the body, says Mona Dan, a Beverly Hills-based acupuncturist and owner of Vie Healing, a holistic medicine center and supplements line. We believe the environment and the proper flow of blood and energy throughout the body have a strong impacton us.

The most important approach to fighting acne is looking at the internal aspect.

And breakout-prone skin, Dansays, is no different. The most important approach to fighting acne is looking at the internal aspect,she says. Your body holds onto toxins because youre [nutrient] deficient. This builds up heat, which shows up on the skin as different kinds of pimples.

The fix, Dan says, isnt any single serum, but rather a360-degree approach. You dont want to have to work for your body, but insteadfind a way to make your body work for you, Dan explains. This means attacking the problem at its rootno trial-and-error testing of spot creams necessary (phew).

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One things for sure: TCM will neveraskyou to applyharsh acne treatments(so you can say goodbye to your benzoyl peroxide). Instead, its all about using organic, totally natural ingredients that have cooling propertiesmany of whichyou may already have in your kitchen.Applying things likehoneysuckle flower powder, pearl powder, turmeric, and fresh cucumber juice reverses the heat in the body that causes acne, Danexplains.

Honey is my secret weapon for everything, Dan adds. Its a great antibacterial and antifungal. (Plus, its effective as a face washIve tried it.) Dan advises mixing it with some coconut oil for a synergistic, skin-boosting blend. Another acne solution you can find in your cupboardis oatmeal, which Dan says is best for treating dry, cystic acne.

3/5

Steering clear of inflammatory foods is a classic staple of fighting acne from the inside out, but TCM is particularly adamant about turning down theheat (in temperature as well as taste). Avoid greasy, spicy, damp foods, says Dan. Try to eat dishes that arent too hot or too coldotherwise, they can trap heat in your blood vessels, and thatcan show up as acne.

She notes that room-temperature meals are best because digestingcold and raw food can also trap heat insideyour body. You need your body to be relaxed to function properly, Dan says, not working overtime to break down the things you eat. (Need recipe inspo? This one-pan Japanese omelette checks all the boxes.)

4/5

Theres not much that exercise doesnt help withacne woes included. Its important to get your blood flowing, but in a moderate, non-taxing way, says Dan. Be gentle with your body, but break a sweat.

So when fighting a flare-up, it could be better to opt for Pilates rather than, say, the hardest HIIT class in your neighborhood. Causing too much stress on the body puts you into fight or flight mode, Danadds. This stops your proper processing modes, and could wreak havoc on your skin. (Plus, who doesnt mind having a reason to takea break from boot camp?)

5/5

If you think of herbs when you think of TCM, youretotally correctthey play a big role in stabilizingthe body.Adaptogens help regulate the hormones and nervous system, which saves your skin, says Dan. Theyre very balancing and allow you to more properly digest, which soothes irritated breakouts. But depending on your skin type, some herbs may be better than others, so be sure to talk to a professional before stocking up on supplements.

The last major thing you can do to stave off acne has nothing to do with your diet: Dan says reducing stressand regulating hormones will always help clear your face (hence why her supplements line includes restorative, immune-boostingherbs likeashwagandha, licorice root, schizandra berry, ginseng, and astragalus). The lower the cortisol, the clearer your skin.

If you feel its time to call in thebreakout-fightingreinforcements, here are the yoga poses that could help clear up your skin. And when all else fails, this is how to deal with acne scars the natural way.

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4 steps to clear, radiant skin, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine - Well+Good

Turtle study progress on Medicine Lake

Jeff Edmondson, KARE 5:35 PM. CDT August 09, 2017

Turtle on Medicine Lake. (Photo: Three Rivers Park District)

MEDICINE LAKE, Minn. - The joint project between Three Rivers Park District and The University of St Thomas is entering its second year of research and has been following three types of turtles: spiny softshells, painted, and snappers.

So far, they have found that the spiny softshell turtles have been the most active, sometimes moving across the entire lake.

"Whereas the painted and snappers, individuals are found throughout the lake, but a individual turtle might only use an area the size of an average house," said John Moriarty, Three Rivers Park District'sSenior Manager for Wildlife.

Knowing this is important, because it may or may not determine where they nest in the early summer and lay their eggs.

RELATED:Turtles on the move in Medicine Lake

"There isn't as much sand as there used to be, so that's one reason we have a concentration of turtles nesting up at this end of the park, because we have a good protected sand beach," said Moriarty.

Each turtle is equipped with a radio transmitter so they can be tracked. These turtles, including this nearly 40-year-old snapper went back in the lake this afternoon.

Funding for the research comes from the Minnesota Environment and the Natural Resources Trust Fund. What they learn will then be used to teach the public.

"We can work with homeowners on how to protect nests or how they can work on their shoreline to make it helpful to the wildlife in the area," said Kirsten Hunt, wildlife technician.

Any improvements to their habitat will help ensure healthy populations in the future.

2017 KARE-TV

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Research continues on Medicine Lake turtles | KARE11.com - KARE

Why not eat healthily as a preventative medicine, rather than be forced to swallow drugs as a palliative? Photograph: Issy Croker for the Guardian

Each morning, after a strict overnight fast, Paula Wolfert drinks a cup-and-a-half of hot water with lemon, followed by a bulletproof coffee made from unsalted butter and coconut oil. At 11am, she makes her gritty drink a sludge of greens, nuts, avocado and kefir. Finally, for lunch, she eats something like oven-steamed fish and vegetables. Wolfert eats no bread and hasnt had a dessert in years.

Strangely enough, theres nothing so unusual now about how Wolfert eats. Plenty of twentysomething wellness gurus follow a similar regime, all turmeric shots and energy balls. The difference is that Wolfert is 78 and an American cookbook author famous for her books on Morocco. She was once the queen of rich, meaty tagines and couscous. As she told the BBC Radio 4 Food Programme (in an award-winning episode, Diet and Dementia), Wolfert sacrificed the food she loved when she was diagnosed with dementia in 2012, because she wanted to do anything she could to stop her condition getting worse. As her memory palpably declined, food seemed like one of the few variables she could control. Wolfert feels that following her strict regime has slowed the onset of her dementia symptoms and made her incredibly healthy.

Is food medicine? The question has never been so current or so contentious. Its clearly true that certain patterns of eating can sicken us and unfortunately, these are the patterns of eating that most people in developed countries now follow: low in vegetables and high in sugar, salt, refined oils and carbohydrates. Diet-related ill health, including heart disease and type 2 diabetes, now causes more deaths worldwide than tobacco. Some, therefore, conclude that there must be some specific and magical foods quinoa! Goji berries! that might offer an outright antidote to whatever it is that ails us. Many of the loudest of these voices are quacks or charlatans, or both. There are dark corners of the internet promising that the right diet can cure autism or offer something close to eternal life, coupled with fabulous skin. Some of this woo is exposed in the new book The Angry Chef: Bad Science and the Truth about Healthy Eating by Anthony Warner. The Angry Chef points out that many health-giving diets are anything but, leading to dangerously restrictive regimes that can easily tip over into eating disorders, especially for vulnerable young people.

But it would be wrong to dismiss the idea that food and health are connected, just because of a few OK, a lot of the claims are bogus. At this years Oxford Food Symposium, Canadian hospital chef Joshna Maharaj talked about the craziness of hospitals acting as if there is no connection between a patients health and what he or she eats. Nourishment has long since been abandoned, Maharaj said. In 2011, she took over the catering for a Toronto hospital and was appalled to find that the kitchen used almost no fresh produce and did not even have a fridge in which to store vegetables. Sick people were served meatloaf so processed and oily that Maharaj could not find the adjectives to describe it. She retrained the chefs, found local suppliers and made the radical decision to serve wholesome, appetising food for every meal, such as vibrant dals, soothing congee and sweet, roasted beetroot. It was no surprise to her that patient morale and health substantially improved with the new menus.

The average UK hospital still pays little attention to the powerful link between food and health. Ive spoken to doctors who lament the irony of treating cardiac patients, only to see them heading to the hospital cafe to buy exactly the same fried and sugared junk foods that landed them on the ward in the first place. The health service spends a fortune on nutritional supplements (more than 300m in 2012), many of which could be avoided with better meals.

There are signs that many of us are sick of a medical system in which drugs are used and not very effectively to alleviate the symptoms of a bad diet. Wouldnt it be better to try a way of eating that reduced your chances of getting ill in the first place? Market researchers have identified a trend for pill fatigue among consumers. Many would rather eat things such as yoghurt, green vegetables and nuts as a delicious preventative medicine, rather than be forced to swallow drugs as a palliative. Professor Roy Taylor at Newcastle University is among those suggesting that unlike medication, diet can actually reverse the effects on the body of type 2 diabetes.

Food is not a patentable drug, as Sheila Dillon observed on her radio programme about Paula Wolfert. But as the ancient Greek philosopher and physician Galen wrote in the second century AD: other remedies may be used for this or that, but without food it is impossible to live either in health or in sickness.

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'Is food medicine? The question has never been so current or so contentious' - The Guardian

Scientists are making use of discarded animal organs by turning them into origami but its more than just an art project.

A team of researchers at Northwestern University created the paper cranes to demonstrate the flexibility and malleability of their latest breakthrough: a tissue paper that has the potential to heal wounds, prevent scarring and help hormone production in cancer patients.

This new class of biomaterials has potential for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine as well as drug discovery and therapeutics, Ramille Shah, one of the team members, told Northwestern.edu. Its versatile and surgically friendly.

The tissue paper is a blend of proteins from animal organs that, when wet, can be folded, rolled, cut, flattened, balled, ripped and even crafted into tiny birds. It can also be frozen for later use, making it even more practical.

In one of the first lab tests, the team successfully grew hormone-secreting follicles in a culture using a paper made from a cow ovary. Their findings were recently published in Advanced Functional Materials.

And as with many scientific discoveries, the team at Northwestern stumbled upon the new material as an accident.

The scientists were researching 3D-printed mice ovaries when one of the team members spilled the hydrogel-based gelatin ink used in creating the ovaries. The ink pooled into a dry sheet that ended up being surprisingly strong.

The light bulb went on in my head, Adam Jakus, another one of the team members, told Northwestern.edu. I knew right then I could make large amounts of bioactive materials from other organs.

Since then, the researchers have been collecting scrap pig and cow organs from a local butcher and using them to further test out the regenerative tissue paper.

Breaking down everything from animal uteruses to kidneys to muscles to hearts, the team extracts the structural proteins which give an organ its form then dries them out and combines it was a polymer, or resin, which generates the thin, paper structure.

The final product is basically a papier-mch-like sheet of proteins that can retain the biochemicals needed to regenerate a sick or injured piece of tissue, like a human liver, or skin laceration.

Though a lot more research is needed, the material could one day be used to accelerate healing after surgery and help treat hormone deficiencies in cancer patients. The researchers also found it can support human stem cell growth.

It is really amazing that meat and animal by-products like a kidney, liver, heart and uterus can be transformed into paper-like biomaterials that can potentially regenerate and restore function to tissues and organs, Jakus said. Ill never look at a steak or pork tenderloin the same way again.

More:

'Origami organs' could be the future of regenerative medicine - New York Post

As a medical student, do you ever wonder what its like to specialize in emergency medicine? Meet Kathleen Clem, MD, a featured physician in theAMA WireShadow Me Specialty Series, which offers advice directly from physicians about life in their specialties. Check out her insights to help determine whether a career in emergency medicine might be a good fit for you.

Shadowing Dr. Clem

Specialty:Emergency medicine.

Practice setting:Group practice at a community hospital that has an emergency medicine training program.

Employment type:Employed by a group.

Years in practice:24.

A typical day and week in my practice: It depends on which shift you are working, but in a busy shift, I usually come on and take reports from the doctors who are going off. We review any of the patients who are still in the emergency department and who will need my care. As the other physician is transitioning off, I follow up on those patients.

I like to do what I call front-load, which means I pick up as many patients as I safely can, right at the outset of the shift. That allows me to get patient work-ups started right away. I work to see the people already placed in a room, but that can often be interrupted by an emergency such as a trauma, heart attack or stroke. A patient who is coming in by ambulance in need of immediate evaluation by a physician will be seen soonest. Once I get my patients work-ups started, I go back and check the labs, other tests, and x-rays to give the patients information and a plan. If its a trauma, a heart attack, a stroke or somebody delivering a baby urgently, or another immediate emergency, those patients are going to get my undivided attention until I have dealt with that emergency.

When I come on to my shift, I dont have any clue what Im going to see. The entire shift is going to be a mystery until I get into it. And not knowing whats coming through the door is part of the fun of what I do.

The typical emergency physician will work three to five shifts a week. Five is high, but there are some weeks during which that type of workload is necessary. We try to either group our shifts, so for example work all night shifts, or we do whats called a waterfall. During a waterfall, I would work one shift at 6 a.m., then the next day at 3 a.m., then the next one from 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., and then I could do the next one from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., then Id have a day off to reset my clock. A lot of doctors like to have all their shifts at the same time, so that they get into a routine. I like to separate my night shifts out, so Ill do them as a single event.

The most challenging aspects of emergency medicine: People think the most challenging part is the traumas and all of the really sick patients. For me, thats not it. I love challenging cases. Im trained for that and know how to take care of really sick patients. The hardest thing for me is patients with unrealistic expectations. In certain instances, patients think that No matter whats wrong with me Im going to the ER and that doctor should figure it out and provide a cure, or I have this problem I have had for a long time and Im going to go the ER and my problem is going to be fixed right away.

Those kinds of things are difficult. Its also difficult when a patient comes in with the expectation they will be admitted to the hospital and it turns out that its safe for them to have their work-ups doneafter we check for an emergencyas an outpatient. They can be very disappointed and feel that the emergency physician should have the power to admit them. Patients have to meet pre-specified indications to be admitted to the hospital. Its really not entirely up to the emergency physicians to determine if someone will be admitted.

The most rewarding aspects of emergency medicine: I absolutely love to be where patients are when they need help the most. I went to medical school to help people, and theres not a shift that goes by where I cant go back and say, I really helped somebody today. I helped make their life better. To go through an emergency with someone, to be qualified and trained to help them and make the emergency turn out as well as possiblereally is what keeps me going.

Three adjectives to describe the typical emergency medicine: Im better off with phrases, so I would say: You should enjoy working with people from all walks of life; you need to be high energy; and you should be a team player.

How my lifestyle matches, or differs from, what I had envisioned: Its what I expected. I expected to have a schedule that was not routine. I prefer that. My days off will often be in the middle of the week, instead of the weekend. I knew I had signed up to work nights, weekends and holidays the rest of my career. I planned on that and Im happy to serve. The only part I didnt anticipate, and this is true for all specialties, is the amount of time I have to spend on a computer.

Skills every physician in training should have for emergency medicine but wont be tested for on the board exam: To work well, you have to have a high emotional IQ to thrive as an emergency physician. Because, by necessity, you are dealing with people you havent met every shift, and you have to be able to know how to work well with a team that you may or may not have worked with before. So understanding your roles and how to flex and evaluate your team rapidly are keys. You also need to know where to trust others and where to double-check on things.

One question physicians in training should ask themselves before pursuing emergency medicine: How well do you tolerate interruptions? An emergency physician gets interrupted multiple times every hour. If youre annoyed by that, you probably wont be a happy physician. Its necessary for your team to interrupt you. All of them are your partners, your eyes, your ears; they are there to help you provide care. They are giving you feedback on your patients and the timing for that feedback isnt anything that you can necessarily plan.

You might be getting a call from the lab to let you know that your patients cardiac enzyme is positive and the patient is having a heart attack, and at the same time a triage nurse is telling you a stroke just arrived, and at the same time the nurse for room 12 is going to tell you that Ms. Smith is going to leave against medical advice if you dont come see her. I can get all of that information within 30 seconds. But my thought is that this is my team and I am so grateful they are giving me all that information. Its up to me, as the captain of the ship, to decide what I need to respond to first. I start with whatever is life- threatening first and I move through that way.

Books every medical student in emergency medicine should be reading: Tintinalli's Emergency MedicineManual, by Judith Tintinalli, MD; Rosen's Emergency Medicine: Concepts and Clinical Practice, by John Marx, MD, Robert Hockberger, MD, Ron Walls, MD; and Rosen & Barkin's 5-Minute Emergency Medicine Consult, edited by Roger M. Barkin, MD, Jeffrey J. Schaider, MD, Stephen R. Hayden, MD, Richard E. Wolfe, MD, Adam Z. Barkin, MD, Philip Shayne, MD, Peter Rosen, MD

Quick insights I would give students who are considering emergency medicine: Take every rotation that you go through during medical school and act as though you want to practice that specialty. Say to yourself I am going to be a pediatrician or I am going to be a neurologist. The reason I would say that is that in emergency medicine you need to know about the emergencies associated with all specialties. So go to each rotation with gusto and focus on it.

I dont think about what is the most common when a patient comes in. I first think, What is the most dangerous thing that this could be? What is the most life-threatening thing this could be? Only then do I think about what is the most common thing this could be. Most of the rest of medicine looks for a pattern. What does it fit most? And I do that too, but first I think about what is life-threatening. Because Im working in an emergency department, and I have to think about that for every patient I see.

So the patient that comes in with a stroke Im going to do a very brief and focused exam to determine if I think its a stroke or not. Then I would move from there to consult a neurologist and order whatever test. Then you can go back later and do a detailed neurological exam. But I first need to do a very focused exam to determine if it is a stroke. When I call a neurologist in, hes going to do a very detailed exam. It probably will take a good 30 minutes. Thats exactly what they should be doing. But if I took 30 minutes to do that before setting the stroke team into action, my patient could have a completed stroke and never recover. Emergency physicians do focused exams first.

Whats difficult about emergency medicine is that you are making decisions based on limited amounts of information. My colleagues have had the luxury of time. They get more details and have time to look into more questions than we do in the ED. Sometimes they will second-guess whatever decision I made with the limited amount of information that I had. Sometimes they say that in emergency medicine we practice fish bowl medicine because every specialty is watching what we do. I am comfortable with that. An emergency physician has to be an expert on everything for the first five minutes.

Song to describe life in emergency medicine: I like Stayin Alive, by the Bee Gees. That is what I sing in my head while Im doing CPR. Its the right beat.

More about your specialty options

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What it's like to specialize in emergency medicine: Shadowing Dr. Clem - American Medical Association (blog)

PUNE, India, August 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

According to a new market research report "Collagen & Gelatin Market for Regenerative Medicine(by Source (Bovine, Porcine, Marine), Application (Wound Care, Orthopedic, Cardiovascular)), Value and Volume Analysis - Global Forecast to 2022 ", published by MarketsandMarkets, the global Collagen Market for regenerative medicine is projected to grow from USD 420.6 Million in 2017 to USD 679.9 Million by 2022, at a CAGR of 10.1% during the forecast period. The global Gelatin Market for regenerative medicine is projected to grow from USD 65.2 Million in 2017 to USD 94.9 Million by 2022, at a CAGR of 7.8% during the forecast period.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160303/792302 )

Browse 63 Market Data Tables and 48 Figures spread through 179 Pages and in-depth TOC on"Collagen & Gelatin Market"

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The bovine collagen segment accounted for the largest share of the market in 2017

By source, the global Collagen Market for regenerative medicine has been segmented into bovine collagen, porcine collagen, marine collagen, and other sources. In 2017, the bovine collagen segment is expected to command the largest share of the global Collagen Market for regenerative medicine. The large share of this segment is attributed to the lower cost and extensive availability of bovine collagen.

The orthopedic applications accounted for the largest share of the global Collagen Market for regenerative medicine in 2017

On the basis of application, the global Collagen Market for regenerative medicine has been segmented into orthopedic, wound care, cardiovascular, and other applications. In 2017, the orthopedic applications segment is expected to command the largest share of the global Collagen Market for regenerative medicine. The large share of this segment can primarily be attributed to the high prevalence of osteoporosis.

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The orthopedic applications accounted for the largest share of the global Gelatin Market for regenerative medicine in 2017

On the basis of application, the global Gelatin Market for regenerative medicine has been segmented into wound care, orthopedic, cardiovascular & thoracic, and other applications. The wound care segment is expected to command the largest share of the global Gelatin Market for regenerative medicine in 2017. This segment is also projected to register the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Gelatin hydrogels provide a moist environment for healing while protecting the wound, with the additional advantage of being comfortable for patients due to their cooling effect and non-adhesiveness to wound tissue.

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North America dominated the market in 2017

In 2017, North America is expected to account for the largest share of the Collagen Market for regenerative medicine. The high incidence of periodontitis, increasing prevalence of heart diseases and diabetes in the U.S., and growing number of research studies in Canada are the major factors supporting the growth of this market. The Asia-Pacific region is projected to register the highest growth rate during the forecast period.

The major players operating in the global Collagen Market for regenerative medicine include Integra LifeSciences Holding Corporation (U.S.), Collagen Matrix, Inc. (U.S.), Collagen Solutions plc (U.K.), Royal DSM (Netherlands), Vornia Biomaterials, Ltd. (Ireland), SYMATESE (France), and NuCollagen, LLC. (U.S.). The major players operating in the global Gelatin Market for regenerative medicine include GELITA AG (Germany), Nitta Gelatin, Inc. (Japan), and PB Gelatin (Belgium).

Browse Related Reports

REGENERATIVE MEDICINE MARKET by Therapy (Cell Therapy, Tissue Engineering, Immunotherapy, Gene Therapy), Product (Cell-Based, Acellular), Applications (Orthopedic & Musculoskeletal Disorders, Dermatology, Oncology, Cardiology) - Forecast to 2021

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/regenerative-medicine-market-65442579.html

BIOMATERIALS MARKET by Type of Materials (Metallic, Ceramic, Polymers, Natural) & Application (Cardiovascular, Orthopedic, Dental, Plastic Surgery, Wound Healing, Neurology, Tissue Engineering, Ophthalmology) - Global Forecast to 2021

http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/biomaterials-393.html

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Collagen & Gelatin Market for Regenerative Medicine Worth 679.9 and 94.9 Million USD Respectively, by 2022 - Markets Insider

Researcher Chandan Sen with the nanotechnology-based chip designed to deliver biological "cargo" for cell conversion. Image: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

*** Video and photos available for download: http://bit.ly/2tyoPdM ***

COLUMBUS, Ohio Researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Ohio States College of Engineering have developed a new technology, Tissue Nanotransfection (TNT), that can generate any cell type of interest for treatment within the patients own body. This technology may be used to repair injured tissue or restore function of aging tissue, including organs, blood vessels and nerve cells.

Results of the regenerative medicine study published today in the journalNatureNanotechnology.

By using our novel nanochip technology, injured or compromised organs can be replaced. We have shown that skin is a fertile land where we can grow the elements of any organ that is declining, said Dr. Chandan Sen, director of Ohio States Center for Regenerative Medicine & Cell Based Therapies, who co-led the study with L. James Lee, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering with Ohio States College of Engineering in collaboration with Ohio States Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center.

Researchers studied mice and pigs in these experiments. In the study, researchers were able to reprogram skin cells to become vascular cells in badly injured legs that lacked blood flow. Within one week, active blood vessels appeared in the injured leg, and by the second week, the leg was saved. In lab tests, this technology was also shown to reprogram skin cells in the live body into nerve cells that were injected into brain-injured mice to help them recover from stroke.

This is difficult to imagine, but it is achievable, successfully working about 98 percent of the time. With this technology, we can convert skin cells into elements of any organ with just one touch. This process only takes less than a second and is non-invasive, and then you're off. The chip does not stay with you, and the reprogramming of the cell starts. Our technology keeps the cells in the body under immune surveillance, so immune suppression is not necessary, said Sen, who also is executive director of Ohio States Comprehensive Wound Center.

TNT technology has two major components: First is a nanotechnology-based chip designed to deliver cargo to adult cells in the live body. Second is the design of specific biological cargo for cell conversion. This cargo, when delivered using the chip, converts an adult cell from one type to another, said first author Daniel Gallego-Perez, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering and general surgery who also was a postdoctoral researcher in both Sens and Lees laboratories.

TNT doesnt require any laboratory-based procedures and may be implemented at the point of care. The procedure is also non-invasive. The cargo is delivered by zapping the device with a small electrical charge thats barely felt by the patient.

The concept is very simple, Lee said. As a matter of fact, we were even surprised how it worked so well. In my lab, we have ongoing research trying to understand the mechanism and do even better. So, this is the beginning, more to come.

Researchers plan to start clinical trials next year to test this technology in humans, Sen said.

Funding for this research was provided by Ohio States Center for Regenerative Medicine and Cell-Based Therapies, Ohio States Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center and Leslie and Abigail Wexner.

Read more here:

Ohio State researchers develop regenerative medicine breakthrough - The Ohio State University News (press release)

What happened

Shares of gene editing leader Editas Medicine (NASDAQ:EDIT) rose nearly 16% Monday on heavy trading volume, most of which occurred shortly after the market opened. The number of shares traded in the first few minutes of trading exceeded the daily average trading volume.

There was no major announcement. Instead, Editas Medicine decided to payoff a promissory note issued to the Broad Institute, the holder of its gene editing patents, by issuing shares of common stock on Friday, Aug. 4 that became the property of the research institution. The maximum conversion price was $21.49 per share, which was significantly higher than the recent stock price, and it appears the shares were sold Monday morning at that higher price. Therefore, the company's stock received a little boost.

Despite the honest explanation with almost no significance to Editas Medicine (it didn't receive proceeds from issuing the shares to the Broad Institute), the gains managed to stick around. As of 3:21 p.m. EDT, the stock had settled to a 10.6% gain.

Image source: Getty Images.

In early March, Editas Medicine granted the Broad Institute and Wageningen University promissory notes worth 800,000 shares of common stock related to licensing fees for specific gene editing patents. The notes were convertible to shares at the company's discretion or after 150 days. Since early August is about 150 days after early March, it appears the latter took place.

It's worth pointing out that the Broad Institute was issued 271,347 shares of common stock a few days ago. That's substantially less than the 800,000 shares spelled out in the March filing. However, it's not easy to tell if the balance was given to others named in the filing or if the research institution negotiated a lower payment from Editas Medicine.

Either way, the fact that the Broad Institute unloaded its shares from the converted promissory note is hardly worrisome. After all, the research institution is simply realizing a licensing fee from Editas Medicine. Monday's pop is nothing more, nothing less.

Sometimes there are simple reasons for major stock movements. That is certainly the case with Editas Medicine stock on Monday. But there's good news for investors hoping that more actionable events were the driver of Monday's pop: The gene editing pioneer announces second-quarter 2017 earnings this Wednesday, Aug. 9. That should provide more timely information for shareholders that cannot get enough updates.

Maxx Chatsko has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Read the original here:

Here's Why Editas Medicine Rose as Much as 15.9% Monday - Motley Fool

For a long time, medication dosages were adjusted for patient size and women were simply small men.

Men and women respond differently to diseases and treatments for biological, social and psychological reasons. This is the first article in our series on Gender Medicine, where experts explore these differences and the importance of approaching treatment and diagnosis through a gender lens.

Until the turn of this century, there was little sense in Western medicine that gender mattered. Outside the niche of female reproductive medicine, the male body was the universal model for anatomy studies.

Clinical trials mainly involved males and the results became the evidence base for the diagnosis and treatment of both genders. Medication dosages were typically adjusted for patient size and women were simply small men.

Medical academia has also been male-centred, with teachers, professors and researchers being mostly male. Twenty-five years ago, most college boards representing medical specialities around the world were almost exclusively male.

Read more: Female doctors in Australia are hitting glass ceilings why?

But in the last 20 years, mainstream medical research has begun to seriously explore gender differences and bias in academic and clinical medicine. This explicit recognition of gender along with factors such as ethnicity and socioeconomic status helped determine how healthy all peoples lives are likely to be.

And so, the discipline of gender medicine (also called sex-specific medicine) was born. Gender medicine centres opened in the early 2000s, textbooks followed and gender modules were introduced into some medical training and curricula.

In 2008, the World Health Organisation issued guidelines on teaching gender competence. This is the capacity for health professionals to identify where gender-based differences are significant, and how to ensure more equitable outcomes.

Gendered medicine is not only about women. It is about identifying differences in clinical care and ensuring the best health care is provided for all. It is also about ensuring equity of health care access, and about gender equity in the composition and roles in the profession.

Gender is not the same as sex, which is about biological and physical male-female differences. Gender relates to the social and cultural behaviours we attach to the biological aspects of sex; it is not binary and exists on a spectrum.

In medicine, gender impacts how, when and why a person accesses medical care, and the outcomes of that access. For instance, women seeing their doctor for chronic pain often dont feel adequately listened to or supported.

Read more: Women with endometriosis need support, not judgement

In the area of heart health, women are less likely to seek help for a heart attack as their symptoms make it harder to identify. Studies have also found they dont receive potentially beneficial treatments for heart disease in the same way men do, and have lower survival rates.

In mental health, depression is more common in women and suicide rates are higher in men. The nature of diseases such as heart disease, osteoporosis and lung cancer are different between women and men too, as are their outcomes.

Less well known is that two-thirds of the blind people in the world are women, even when the data is adjusted for the fact women live longer. And as an example of sociological differences that need recognising, women who present with an eye socket fracture, a ruptured eyeball or eye bruise are at risk of dying, not from the injury, but from a further assault by a perpetrator of family violence.

Clinical trials are the bedrock of medical research and evidence building. Until relatively recently, they were mainly conducted with males for a number of reasons, including availability to participate and concerns about the impact on womens reproductive health, or the impact of menstrual cycles on the trials.

Restricting difference also makes trials cheaper by reducing the required sample size (even though it leads to inaccuracies for various important subgroups).

Women were excluded because they are different, but the results were applied to them because they are nearly the same. And when women and men are included in trials, the results are usually not published separated by sex, so the findings may be inaccurate for all participants.

Even in pre-clinical research using animals, female animals have been excluded to make management and costs simpler, and reduce measurement variation.

As a result, large scale clinical trials have yielded findings based on particular population groups. For example, a 1988 study into the use of aspirin to lower the risk of heart attack was based on a six-year trial of 22,000 men.

But change is afoot in trial design. Australias largest medical research grant body, the National Health & Medical Research Council, for example, has introduced guidelines that require applicants to address gender equity among research participants.

We need data from clinical trials and population data that is sorted by gender, so knowledge bases can be gradually improved. Generalisations about gender can be both useful and problematic, so careful analysis is needed.

We must account for gender in all medical training, and clinical practice. This should apply to not only disciplines that relate to sex hormones such as gynaecology, but also for example orthopaedics and ophthalmology.

We need the profession itself to take the lead in encompassing gender diversity in our community. Following the lead of non-medical groups such as the Australian Institute of Company Directors, the medical profession needs to introduce targets for diverse representation on all professional decision-making bodies.

Sarah, an Australian medical student in her final year, told me the biological perspective is taught well, but the psychological and social not so much.

There are broader social and cultural factors that might affect the way a male patient presents versus a female.

Medical training on diversity also needs to include people who are transgender or who identify as non-gender conforming. As Sarah said:

We talk about inequalities in terms of males and females, but gender diversity isnt mentioned at all. I shudder to think of the barriers and obstacles you might face in training if you were transgender or non-gender conforming. I havent heard anyone raise that.

Read todays other piece in the Gender Medicine series - Man flu is real, but women get more autoimmune diseases and allergies

Continued here:

Medicine's gender revolution: how women stopped being treated as 'small men' - The Conversation AU