The hottest Clinical Trials Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Health & Wellness Topics

F Cancer

Marcus on AI • 13437 implied HN points • 16 Mar 26
đź•ą Technology Clinical Trials
  1. Biology is incredibly complex and varies from person to person, so many drugs that look promising in animals or early tests still fail in humans.
  2. Current AI is not a magic cure—existing models are limited and often trained on language, so much stronger algorithms that can reason about chemistry, physics, and biology are needed for major breakthroughs.
  3. In the near term, AI can help by streamlining paperwork, patient recruitment, and researcher tools, but real progress also depends on economic and systemic changes like better incentives and funding.

Is Seed Oil Intake Correlated With Bad Health?

Cremieux Recueil • 332 implied HN points • 25 Mar 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Clinical Trials
  1. Higher seed oil intake (measured by linoleic acid) is not linked to worse health and is associated with lower long‑term mortality and better markers like lower inflammation and healthier lipids.
  2. Most anti‑seed‑oil arguments rely on mechanistic, animal, or cherry‑picked evidence and are inconsistent; high‑quality human studies and trials don’t support the claim that seed oils are harmful.
  3. Using stronger methods and measurements (plasma biomarkers, propensity matching, doubly‑robust estimation) removes signals of harm and fails to confirm mechanistic worries like raised arachidonic acid, oxidative damage, vitamin E depletion, or clotting—while saturated fat shows worse associations.

The Missing CHIP

Ground Truths • 8223 implied HN points • 15 Mar 26
🔬 Science Clinical Trials
  1. CHIP (clonal hematopoiesis) is a common, age-related blood stem cell change that meaningfully raises risk for heart disease, blood cancers, clots, and inflammatory problems, with risk depending on clone size and the specific mutated gene.
  2. New research shows CHIP is actionable: drugs like low‑dose colchicine, IL‑1β blockers, inflammasome inhibitors, and other agents can reduce CHIP or its downstream risks, and genetic discoveries point to future prevention strategies.
  3. Testing for CHIP is highly informative but currently limited by high cost, complex deep‑sequencing methods, and slow guideline uptake, so cheaper targeted assays and more clinical programs could enable screening and early prevention for older adults.

Medical Roundup #7

Don't Worry About the Vase • 2374 implied HN points • 17 Mar 26
🏥 Health Politics Clinical Trials
  1. The FDA is acting inconsistently and retroactively on approvals, and that behavior is chilling investment and innovation in vaccines and other drug development.
  2. Clinical trials and oversight are inefficient and expensive—practices like 100% source data verification and rigid IRB processes waste resources and slow progress, so risk-based monitoring, standardized trial infrastructure, and more flexible accredited reviews could help.
  3. Medical and market developments are moving care forward—AI can improve cancer screening, GLP-1 competition is driving down prices, and simple habits like daily walking give big health benefits—but regulatory and cultural barriers risk limiting their impact.

Ensitrelvir (Xocova®): Japanese Company Shionogi & Co., Ltd. Sets a Model for Success in Translational Research for the Coming Future of Ethical Science

Popular Rationalism • 455 implied HN points • 29 Oct 24
🏥 Health Politics Clinical Trials
  1. Ensitrelvir, also known as Xocova, is a new antiviral pill that is 30 times more effective than a placebo. It was developed by a Japanese company called Shionogi & Co., which worked closely with researchers.
  2. This medication targets a key enzyme the virus needs to replicate, making it effective against COVID-19 symptoms, especially those caused by Omicron variants. It has shown a strong safety profile and fewer side effects compared to some other treatments.
  3. Xocova is easier to take than some alternatives because it requires only a once-daily dose and has fewer interactions with other medications. This makes it a more convenient option for many patients.
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Why do public health bureaucrats keep pushing flu shots on kids?

Unreported Truths • 34 implied HN points • 26 Mar 26
🏥 Health Politics Clinical Trials
  1. Flu shots for young children give only partial, short-lived protection against lab-confirmed influenza and usually don't reduce overall respiratory illness, so benefits are limited and require yearly repeats.
  2. Trials have reported rare but serious adverse events and many studies lack true placebo controls, leaving the true short- and long-term risks of repeated annual vaccination starting in infancy unclear.
  3. Given the modest benefits and uncertain risks, strong public-health pressure to vaccinate all healthy kids against flu is questionable and should be re-evaluated to rebuild parental trust.

FDA's Straight Shooter: Don't Bring Crappy Data To A Gunfight

TK News by Matt Taibbi • 7619 implied HN points • 19 Feb 26
🏥 Health Politics Clinical Trials
  1. The FDA, led by Vinay Prasad, refused to file Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine study because the trial didn’t meet the agency’s standards for being “adequate and well‑controlled.”
  2. Moderna’s study compared its shot to Fluarix, a vaccine that performs poorly in people 65+, which could falsely inflate the new vaccine’s benefit and raises ethical questions about informed consent for participants.
  3. Prasad’s move signals a tougher, less pharma‑friendly FDA stance that is drawing industry and media backlash but emphasizes stricter enforcement of trial and safety standards.

The Lowdown on Low-Dose Aspirin for Primary Prevention

Ground Truths • 13866 implied HN points • 02 Jan 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Clinical Trials
  1. Low-dose aspirin for primary prevention in older adults generally causes more harm than benefit. It increases major bleeding and, in some trials, was linked to higher overall or cancer-related mortality without reducing cardiovascular events.
  2. Major guidelines now advise against routine aspirin for primary prevention in older adults, with age cutoffs varying by group. Aspirin still provides clear benefit for secondary prevention after events like heart attack, stroke, or stenting.
  3. There are hints aspirin might lower cancer incidence in specific subgroups (for example people with CHIP), but overall trial data in the elderly showed higher cancer deaths and CHIP testing isn’t part of routine care, so this is not an actionable reason to use aspirin now.

Exenatide - the drug that failed

Rory’s Always On Newsletter • 595 implied HN points • 18 Oct 24
🏥 Health Politics Clinical Trials
  1. Exenatide, a drug initially hopeful for slowing Parkinson's, failed in its final trial. This has left many in the Parkinson's community feeling uncertain and disappointed.
  2. Researchers are still figuring out why the drug worked in earlier tests but failed later. They need more data to understand if it was because the drug didn't reach the brain or if it just wasn't effective.
  3. The failure of Exenatide could make it harder for other similar drugs to get funding for trials. Meanwhile, experts emphasize that exercise remains a reliable way to manage Parkinson's symptoms.

One Weird Trick to Get Significant Results

Cremieux Recueil • 295 implied HN points • 13 Mar 26
🔬 Science Clinical Trials
  1. Researchers often split samples and hunt for subgroups where effects become significant, but reporting subgroup "wins" without testing interactions or accounting for low power produces misleading, likely fluke results.
  2. The functional medicine trial example shows clear red flags: inconsistent numbers, bad or post-hoc preregistration, incorrect power/sample-size math, undisclosed conflicts, non-ITT analyses, and unreported/misused subgroup tests with weak measures.
  3. These practices make findings fragile and hard to replicate, so studies need proper prospective registration, correct power calculations, transparent reporting (including interaction tests), multiple-comparisons control, and shared data to be trustworthy.

The Exhilirating Movement From Treatment to Cures for Autoimmune Diseases

Ground Truths • 11197 implied HN points • 14 Dec 25
🔬 Science Clinical Trials
  1. Two main cure strategies are emerging: a "hard reset" with engineered immune cells (CAR‑T/CAR‑NK) that deplete disease‑causing B cells and is moving toward off‑the‑shelf, in‑body delivery for one‑shot remissions.
  2. A "soft reset" uses inverse or tolerogenic vaccines and Treg/dendritic‑cell approaches to retrain the immune system to tolerate self‑antigens instead of attacking them.
  3. Advances in cancer immunotherapy (CAR‑T, checkpoint modulation, in‑vivo delivery, gene editing) are accelerating autoimmune cures, but challenges remain with cost, safety (e.g., cytokine release, neurotoxicity, vector risks) and equitable access.

✨⚕️ Must AI cure cancer?

Faster, Please! • 1370 implied HN points • 24 Feb 26
đź•ą Technology Clinical Trials
  1. AI doesn't have to instantly cure cancer to be a huge win. Even steady improvements that make treatments more precise and drug discovery cheaper would be transformative.
  2. AI is already helping reverse decades of falling pharma productivity by acting as a better front-end filter — boosting candidate success rates, shortening timelines by roughly 20–25%, and cutting development costs by about 25–30% — which could unlock tens to hundreds of billions in value.
  3. Apocalyptic job-loss stories are overstated because they ignore new job creation, the gap between lab capability and workplace adoption, and political and economic constraints that will slow large-scale disruption.

AI Won't Automatically Accelerate Clinical Trials

Asimov Press • 786 implied HN points • 27 Feb 26
🏥 Health Politics Clinical Trials
  1. Better AI-designed molecules won't automatically make clinical trials faster, because timelines are set by human biology, patient recruitment, logistics, and regulatory processes that take real calendar time.
  2. Clinical trials do two jobs—validation and learning—and AI needs rich human trial data to improve; many important outcomes, especially for chronic diseases and aging, take years to observe so trials remain slow even with better drugs.
  3. Real acceleration requires institutional and regulatory reforms—like validated surrogate endpoints, streamlined review pathways, and better data sharing—because AI alone can only improve trials at the margins until those systems change.

Chinese Peptides

ChinaTalk • 607 implied HN points • 20 Feb 26
🔬 Science Clinical Trials
  1. Chinese factories and online sellers are mass-producing and exporting a wide range of peptides — from approved drugs to experimental research chemicals — at far lower prices than brand-name medicines. They advertise on social apps and ship directly to foreign customers with fast turnaround and bulk incentives.
  2. Many popular peptides lack robust human trials and can contain hard-to-detect impurities, so injectable dosing and sterility carry real health risks. Regulatory enforcement is murky: sellers use “research use only” labels to dodge oversight and FDA actions have varied with political leadership.
  3. Demand is driven by biohackers, athletes, and people chasing weight loss or faster healing, and injections have become socially normalized after drugs like Ozempic. That demand meets China’s large-scale peptide manufacturing capacity, creating a booming gray market that outpaces formal clinical research.

Medical Roundup #6

Don't Worry About the Vase • 1657 implied HN points • 19 Jan 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Clinical Trials
  1. The apparent rise in autism is actually just more people being diagnosed under much broader criteria, not a real increase in prevalence, and the "autism spectrum" is now so wide it would be clearer to separate the very different ends.
  2. Doing even a small amount of regular exercise gives real health and cognitive benefits, and lowering psychological barriers (like free gym access) raises activity, though gains taper off once you become very fit.
  3. Regulatory and system problems — costly, slow clinical trials, restrictive FDA decisions, and workforce bottlenecks — are slowing drug development and harming care, so easing unnecessary barriers and better incentives would speed innovation and improve outcome access.

New Anti-Aging Evidence For Estrogen

Ground Truths • 17977 implied HN points • 05 Jul 25
🏥 Health & Wellness Clinical Trials
  1. Estrogen replacement therapy can help slow down the aging process in some organs, especially when started closer to menopause. This means women might feel and function better as they age.
  2. The Women's Health Initiative study raised concerns about the risks of hormone therapy, but many of its findings may not apply to younger women or those who start treatment soon after menopause.
  3. Recent research shows that estrogen can improve heart health and cognitive function, reinforcing the importance of considering hormone therapy for women to enhance their health as they age.

Defense of Dr. Charles Hoffe Vs. The BC College of Physicians and Surgeons - Part 4

Pierre Kory’s Medical Musings • 4835 implied HN points • 28 Jan 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Clinical Trials
  1. Dr. Hoffe advocates for the safety and effectiveness of ivermectin as a Covid treatment.
  2. Extensive data supports the unparalleled safety profile of ivermectin for Covid and parasitic diseases.
  3. Comparisons show that ivermectin is safer than other approved Covid treatments like Remdesivir, Paxlovid, and Molnupiravir.

Beyond Magic Bullets: Alzheimer’s Needs the Right Cocktail and Timing

Brain Pizza • 331 implied HN points • 17 Jan 26
🔬 Science Clinical Trials
  1. Alzheimer's will likely need a combination of therapies instead of a single 'magic bullet' drug.
  2. Recent results—modest GLP‑1 signals, negative phase 3 trials, and limited amyloid drug benefits—suggest single agents aren't enough and that the timing of interventions matters.
  3. Immune strategies such as an Alzheimer's vaccine could be an important component of a multi-pronged treatment plan when used at the right disease stage.

A Covid Nasal Vaccine Update

Ground Truths • 10148 implied HN points • 14 Feb 25
🏥 Health Politics Clinical Trials
  1. There are now 6 different nasal vaccines in clinical trials in the US aimed at preventing COVID-19 and blocking its transmission. These vaccines are promising because they might work better than traditional shots.
  2. Two major challenges facing these new vaccines are the low current levels of the virus, which make it harder to gather data from trials, and the uncertainty about ongoing government support for these projects.
  3. Successful nasal vaccines could provide a convenient way to protect people from COVID-19, but it will take time to find out if they really work well in humans.

Clinic-in-the-Loop

Asimov Press • 567 implied HN points • 29 Dec 25
🔬 Science Clinical Trials
  1. Clinical trials should be treated as active engines of discovery, not just a final yes/no test; faster, more frequent trials create feedback loops that turn clinical data into better drug designs.
  2. The CAR‑T story shows that small, information‑rich human studies can reveal why early designs fail and guide specific fixes that lead to major breakthroughs.
  3. Regulatory, manufacturing, and institutional barriers make these learning‑focused trials slow and costly, so policy and technical changes are needed to lower barriers, enable adaptive development, and collect richer in‑human measurements.

Why would anyone want the FDA to approve drugs without real evidence they work?

Unreported Truths • 44 implied HN points • 06 Mar 26
🏥 Health Politics Clinical Trials
  1. Regulators should insist on solid, placebo-controlled evidence that a treatment actually works and is safe before approving it, because without that any risk may be too much.
  2. Drug companies and their investors often push for lower approval standards to make big profits, using weak comparisons or non-placebo studies to claim benefits.
  3. Politics and media hype can pressure regulators to relax standards, which increases the chance that unproven, risky treatments reach patients and cause harm.

FDA refuses to review Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine application

Force of Infection • 153 implied HN points • 11 Feb 26
🏥 Health Politics Clinical Trials
  1. The FDA refused to start reviewing Moderna’s mRNA seasonal flu vaccine application, removing a potential new mRNA option for influenza.
  2. The agency said the trial used a comparator that didn’t reflect the best standard of care, and Moderna says that contradicts prior FDA guidance, meaning the application was dismissed for study-design reasons rather than safety or effectiveness.
  3. Regulatory unpredictability like this raises the financial risk of doing clinical trials, which can push companies away from R&D and ultimately reduce patient access to new vaccines.

Lighting up Long Covid

Ground Truths • 15222 implied HN points • 19 Jan 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Clinical Trials
  1. A new study on Long Covid analyzed 6,600 proteins to identify potential biomarkers like complement activation.
  2. Vaccination offers substantial protection against Long Covid, especially in those not at risk of severe illness.
  3. Recent reports highlight potential neurologic damage from Covid and call for more research on effective treatments.

Lithium Orotate for Dementia & Depression

Neuro Athletics • 22 implied HN points • 23 Feb 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Clinical Trials
  1. Brain aging isn’t just about passive “gunk” building up; it’s framed as a metabolic crisis where that buildup is robbing neurons of things they need.
  2. A Harvard study reportedly found that lithium is being hijacked inside the brain, leaving neurons starved of this essential mineral.
  3. A specific over-the-counter form, lithium orotate, can supposedly bypass the trap and reach brain cells, and human clinical trials are cited suggesting lithium can slow or sometimes halt cognitive decline.

Forensic analysis of 38 subject deaths shared by Corinne Michels Writer Science Rules by Corinne Michels, found evidence of an over 3.7-fold increase in number of deaths due to cardiovascular events

Alexander News Network -Dr. Paul Elias Alexander's substack • 1572 implied HN points • 25 Jan 24
🏥 Health Politics Clinical Trials
  1. Forensic analysis found a 3.7-fold increase in deaths due to cardiovascular events in Pfizer vaccinated individuals compared to placebo.
  2. The adverse event signal was not reported by Pfizer/BioNTech.
  3. Inconsistencies were found in subject data reported in the study and publications by Pfizer/BioNTech trial site administrators.

Proposing an NIH High-Leverage Trials (HILT) Program: Large-scale Research for Repurposing and Supplements

The Good Science Project • 78 implied HN points • 28 Jan 26
🏥 Health Politics Clinical Trials
  1. Many supplements and off-patent drugs never get large, definitive trials because companies lack the financial incentive, leaving patients with uncertain benefits and the public paying avoidable costs.
  2. Create a dedicated NIH High‑Leverage Trials (HILT) program to sponsor and run large, pragmatic Phase III trials, hold INDs when needed, and coordinate with FDA and payers to translate results into labels and coverage.
  3. By running efficient, large-scale trials and focusing on high public ROI, HILT could improve safety and care, unlock low‑cost treatment options, and save substantial public and private healthcare dollars.

We need to industrialize virtual synthetic repurposing trials

Trevor Klee’s Newsletter • 970 implied HN points • 10 Jul 25
🏥 Health Politics Clinical Trials
  1. Virtual synthetic repurposing trials use existing healthcare data to see how already available drugs can help treat various diseases. This method can lead to important insights without needing traditional trials.
  2. Currently, these trials are done by small teams and can be slow and hard to replicate. There’s a call for a more organized approach that uses technology to speed up the process and improve access to data.
  3. By setting up teams focused on software, data cleaning, and navigating regulations, we could create a system that shares results openly. This would allow more researchers to explore and build on findings.

The first RCT for GLP-1 drugs and alcoholism isn't what we hoped

DYNOMIGHT INTERNET NEWSLETTER • 1109 implied HN points • 20 Feb 25
🏥 Health Politics Clinical Trials
  1. GLP-1 drugs like semaglutide help with diabetes and obesity, but new research shows they might not be effective for alcohol addiction as previously thought. The first clinical trial results were disappointing.
  2. The trial had only 48 participants and mixed results, with no clear evidence that semaglutide reduced alcohol consumption. Some data suggested it might help in a lab setting, but overall findings were weak.
  3. Despite the poor results, there are still many personal stories claiming these drugs help with addiction. More research is needed, as the search for effective treatments for addiction continues.

LabGenius - the long slow road to faster drug discovery

Rory’s Always On Newsletter • 535 implied HN points • 07 Feb 24
🔬 Science Clinical Trials
  1. AI and machine learning are revolutionizing drug discovery by speeding up the identification of potential treatments, leading to big rewards for those in the industry.
  2. Building a successful biotech company requires patience, determination, and significant funding, often with a focus on research and development before revenue generation.
  3. Investors in biotech companies must be prepared for a long journey of constant failures and successes, akin to the process of drug discovery, with potential acquisitions being key outcomes.

Beware STAT News and Other Pharma-Sponsored Media Outlets

The DisInformation Chronicle • 415 implied HN points • 22 Jul 25
🏥 Health Politics Clinical Trials
  1. Watch out for news sources like STAT News that may be influenced by pharmaceutical companies. They might not tell the full story about drug safety.
  2. The FDA stopped the use of a gene therapy called ELEVIDYS after serious issues arose, including participant deaths. It's important to question how such treatments got approved in the first place.
  3. There may be a conflict of interest when media outlets promote certain drug companies. It's wise to consider who funds the news and the motivations behind it.

Once Upon a Time in the Green Valley

Pekingnology • 60 implied HN points • 05 Jan 26
đź’Ľ Business Clinical Trials
  1. Fosun Pharma is paying 1.4 billion yuan to buy control of Green Valley and try to revive GV-971, a touted Chinese Alzheimer’s drug. Many experts doubt the drug’s effectiveness and its international Phase III trial failed for poor enrollment.
  2. Green Valley has a long history of promoting anti-cancer products with false or exaggerated claims, repeatedly rebranding products and breaking advertising rules. Desperate patients were misled, spent money, and sometimes lost the chance for effective treatment.
  3. The acquisition carries legal and reputational risk because regulators have challenged Green Valley’s approvals and its Chinese license has lapsed, while the company’s past leadership and brand links keep public distrust alive. People worry that continuity could mean repeating past harms even as new confirmatory trials move forward.

Miracles In The (In)famous Pfizer Trial

QTR’s Fringe Finance • 25 implied HN points • 02 Feb 26
🏥 Health Politics Clinical Trials
  1. Reported vaccine effectiveness jumped sharply within about five to seven days after the second dose, which seems biologically implausible and makes that rapid change suspicious.
  2. The trial protocol let investigators treat symptoms in the first week after vaccination as side effects without PCR testing, so many potential COVID cases in the vaccine arm could have been missed and efficacy overstated.
  3. Vaccine recipients reported fewer non-COVID symptoms outside the immediate reactogenicity window, suggesting differential outcome ascertainment and bias that reduce confidence in the trial’s results.

The FDA Drug Review Paradox

Who is Robert Malone • 13 implied HN points • 14 Feb 26
🏥 Health Politics Clinical Trials
  1. The FDA’s current review process now favors big pharmaceutical incumbents and stifles small innovators, pushing startups to sell early or move their development offshore.
  2. Regulatory workarounds like Fast Track, Priority Review Vouchers, and Emergency Use Authorization were meant to help patients but have been captured and repurposed as shortcuts that benefit large companies more than public health.
  3. Real reform should refocus approval on patient-centered, clinically meaningful benefits and give agency leaders and managers flexibility to adapt to modern science and take measured risks.

ACIP at a Historic Turning Point

Injecting Freedom • 72 implied HN points • 11 Dec 25
🏥 Health Politics Clinical Trials
  1. Clinical trials used to license childhood vaccines matter a lot because ACIP often recommends those vaccines soon after licensure.
  2. There is a lack of post-licensure safety data and current safety monitoring isn't adequate, so more thorough follow-up is needed after vaccines are approved.
  3. ACIP has a historic opportunity to recommit to vaccine safety and to more carefully weigh efficacy issues when making its vaccine schedule recommendations.

Sonia Gandhi's mission to change Parkinson's trials

Rory’s Always On Newsletter • 734 implied HN points • 05 Sep 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Clinical Trials
  1. Professor Sonia Gandhi leads a mission to improve Parkinson's trials by implementing ACT PD initiative for more efficient drug testing.
  2. The UK aims to become a hub for clinical trials like the multi-arm system to find disease-modifying therapies for Parkinson's faster.
  3. Funding is crucial for scientists like Professor Gandhi to advance technology and trial designs for breakthroughs in Parkinson's research.

It is unethical to mandate kids to get the COVID shot. It's easy to show with math.

Steve Kirsch's newsletter • 6 implied HN points • 12 Feb 26
🏥 Health Politics Clinical Trials
  1. Because COVID deaths in people under 20 are extremely rare, proving a vaccine is safer than the disease would require an enormous randomized trial—about 7.5 million children followed for a year—which was never done.
  2. Without that level of evidence, recommending or mandating the vaccines for healthy children lacked the necessary statistical and ethical justification and represents a failure of regulatory oversight.
  3. Some countries quietly scaled back or restricted pediatric vaccine recommendations, but authorities largely avoided openly admitting or taking accountability for the earlier decisions.

Did the Pfizer Trial Show the Vaccine Increases Heart Disease Deaths?

Harnessing the Power of Nutrients • 2256 implied HN points • 19 Feb 22
🏥 Health Politics Clinical Trials
  1. The Pfizer trial did not show a statistically significant increase in all-cause mortality or cardiac mortality among vaccinated individuals
  2. The trial would have needed to be longer for significant differences to show, suggesting the need for longer trials in vaccine studies
  3. It's important to consider all possible risks found in trials seriously, even when statistically insignificant, and to approach vaccine research with caution