NEWS.

Liver tumors that stop responding to lenvatinib rewire how they burn sugar, turning down the AMPK fuel gauge and ramping up glycolysis. In cells, a GLP-1 receptor agonist reversed that switch and restored the drug's effect, a preclinical mechanism for why GLP-1 drugs keep surfacing in cancer research.

A meta-analysis of retatrutide's randomized trials found a consistent systolic blood-pressure drop near 7 mmHg and falling total cholesterol, LDL, and triglycerides, but no change in HDL and high trial-to-trial disagreement on cholesterol.

A Phase 2b trial in China found a new biweekly GLP-1 drug beat semaglutide 1 mg on HbA1c, but gastrointestinal side effects ran about 30 points higher and the comparator was the lower semaglutide dose.

Noise-induced hearing loss has no approved drug, partly because the damage degrades the TrkB receptor that growth-factor therapies rely on. MTFL457, a cell-penetrating peptide that protects TrkB from degradation, preserved hearing and inner-ear synapses in noise-exposed animals in a Molecular Medicine study from a Madrid lab.

LHNVD-110, a single synthetic peptide that strings together conserved fragments of hemagglutinin, neuraminidase, and matrix proteins, raised cross-reactive antibodies in mice that blocked 2009 H1N1, seasonal H3N2, H5N1 bird flu, and an influenza B strain. It is an immunogenicity result, not proof of protection.

A pooled analysis of orforglipron, the oral GLP-1 pill, shows a clean dose-response on weight and blood sugar across three trials and 2,505 people. The authors rated several of the key outcomes low certainty.

A Molecular Metabolism study ran obese mice through a five-tastant lick test and found chronic semaglutide left taste sensitivity, taste cells, and taste genes unchanged while still cutting how much they ate. The appetite effect points at motivation, not the tongue.

A FAERS study found 308 drug-pair signals for pancreatitis in people on GLP-1 and related diabetes drugs. A stricter, period-by-period test cut them to 11 weak ones and zero robust ones. The lesson is about the database, not the drugs.

A study that matched diabetic patients on and off GLP-1 drugs found the drugs really do leave more food in the stomach at endoscopy, 4.7 percent versus 1 percent. No one aspirated, and a standard liquid-diet prep erased the risk.

A real-world analysis of nearly 878,000 people with obstructive sleep apnea tied GLP-1 drugs to fewer strokes, brain bleeds, and deaths. The protective signal weakened every year of follow-up, and the year-one mortality drop is large enough to flag healthy-adherer bias.

The FDA cleared a single-patient compassionate-use request for Eli Lilly's unapproved triple agonist retatrutide. Eighteen bioethicists and obesity clinicians told STAT the one-person route is the wrong tool for a disease that affects 100 million Americans, when the standard path to the drug is still a clinical trial.

A Diabetologia study using human donor islets and mouse genetics finds liraglutide's push on insulin runs mostly through a hypothalamic brain gate in healthy bodies, then hands off to a direct pancreatic route as metabolic disease sets in. It is a mechanism for the variability clinicians already see.

The Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee meets July 23 and 24 to decide whether BPC-157, TB-500, MOTS-c, KPV, DSIP, Semax, and Epitalon belong on the 503A list that makes a peptide legal to compound. The seven are voted as one bucket, but their evidence bases are nothing alike.

A meta-analysis of eight cardiovascular trials and 70,822 patients found GLP-1 drugs cut major heart events by 17 percent whether kidney function was normal or reduced. Because reduced-kidney patients have more events to start with, the same cut prevented more: 39 treated to stop one event versus 62.

A records study of nearly 877,000 type 2 diabetes patients found GLP-1 users had a 48 percent higher rate of new smell or taste problems. Smell took the bigger hit, an 81 percent jump, and the signal held across two years.