A Pill That Kills Ticks Is a Promising New Weapon Against Lyme Disease

[ If you have a dog or cat, chances are you’ve given your pet a flavored chewable tablet for tick prevention at some point. What if you could take a similar pill to protect yourself from getting Lyme disease? Tarsus Pharmaceuticals is developing such a pill for humans—minus the tasty flavoring—that could provide protection against … Read more

A Study at the Center of the Abortion Pill Battle Was Just Retracted

[ Scientific publisher Sage Journals has retracted three papers on abortion—including a controversial 2021 study on mifepristone, the medication at the center of a US legal battle. The 2021 study found that mifepristone, one of two pills used in a medication abortion, significantly increased the risk of women going to the emergency room following an … Read more

A Startup Has Unlocked a Way to Make Cheap Insulin

[ Now some key patents have expired, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has paved the way for biosimilar versions of insulin—so-called because they’re almost identical to another product already on the market. For a product to be biosimilar, it must be highly similar in structure to the original and work just as … Read more

A Gel Injected Into the Scrotum Could Be the Next Male Contraceptive

[ The purpose of the current trial is to assess the gel’s safety and longevity, not how well it prevents pregnancy. Participants were asked to use a back-up form of birth control while being enrolled in the trial. The gel is designed to dissolve at the end of its lifetime, so the men will be … Read more

You Know It’s a Placebo. So Why Does It Still Work?

[ You booked this doctor’s appointment weeks in advance. You took off work, endured the trip here, filled out paperwork while a cooking show blared from a TV on the wall, and now you’re finally in the inner sanctum, awkwardly perched on an exam table and staring at a jar of tongue depressors. Your doctor … Read more