A nasal spray to help manage major depression and potentially reduce suicide risk could be available soon.
Janssen Pharmaceuticals has made a marketing application for esketamine spray for treatment-resistant depression (TRD) in adults with depression that have not responded to at least two different treatments with …

People who have a diet rich in urate-raising drink and foodstuffs are unlikely to be at higher risk of gout, despite the old wives tales. A large study published in the BMJ (doi.org/10.1136/bmj.k3951) analysed the diets and measured urate levels in over 16 000 people …

Latest figures show a significant increase in the number of patients being treated for urological cancer and this is down to celebrities raising awareness of their own illness, according to NHS chief Simon Stevens.
Figures show that from April to July 2018, 14 479 patients received …

Movember is approaching. That time of year when people may begin to look like they have had a rough night. But as the month wears on a full moustache in all its splendour (or otherwise) gradually appears. The Movember Foundation has raised over £440million and …

A urethral stone hidden from usual view could be the cause of chronic pelvic pain and clinical examination of the genitalia and perineum is recommended, according to authors of a case report published in the Lancet (2018;392:1246).
They report a 50-year old man who had been …

A once-daily triple antihypertensive drug combination pill could help patients reach target blood pressures (BP).
In a study reported in JAMA (doi:10.1001/jama.2018.10359) therapy using the combination pill, which contains telmisartan 20mg, amlodipine 2.5mg and chlorthalidone 12.5mg, was compared to usual care in over 600 patients with …

Millions of men are neglecting their health and do not understand their bodies according to polling conducted by The Urology Foundation.
The poll reveals that knowledge of men’s health is dangerously low amongst British adults. Urological diseases such as testicular cancer and prostate cancer are not …

A once-a-month injection could replace daily triple therapy in HIV management according to a report in PharmaTimes.
The Phase III ATLAS (Antiretroviral Therapy as Long-Acting Suppression) study was designed to determine whether HIV-1-infected adults who had maintained viral suppression for at least six months, on a …

A biomarker in the blood could predict renal cell carcinoma (RCC) incidence up to five years before diagnosis, and high levels were associated with poorer survival, according to research published in Clinical Cancer Research (doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-18-1496).
In the study, levels of the biomarker, kidney injury molecule-1 …

NICE has given the go-ahead for steam-based ablation of prostate tissue for the management of benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH).
The procedure, known as transurethral water vapour ablation, is usually performed as day-case surgery using local anaesthetic including a peri-prostatic block. Sedation is sometimes used.
The system uses …