FDA Halts Diabetes Cell Tx Trial; Europe’s Obesity Epidemic; Acromegaly Fractures

The FDA placed a clinical hold on Vertex’s investigational diabetes cell therapy VX-880, saying the company didn’t have enough evidence to support a treatment dose increase. (Fierce Biotech)

A study from England found that surgeons who performed few parathyroid procedures each year tended to have patients who required a greater number of repeat surgeries with more postoperative complications. (JAMA Surgery)

The WHO reported that overweight and obesity rates have reached epidemic proportions in Europe.

Transgender patients saw greater access to gender-affirming surgery following a payer shift from self-pay to private or government insurance between 2008 and 2017. (JAMA Surgery)

Roughly six in 10 adults with overweight or obesity and either prediabetes or type 2 diabetes treated with GS200 achieved at least 5% body weight loss — losing on average 11% of their body weight (23 lb) — plus an average reduction of 5.5 inches off their waist circumference in the LIGHT-UP clinical trial, Gelesis announced.

People with low triiodothyronine (T3) syndrome had significantly less survival time after diagnosis with multiple myeloma. (Technology in Cancer Research & Treatment)

Treatment with novel diazoxide choline extended-release tablets significantly improved hyperphagia in patients with Prader-Willi syndrome, Soleno Therapeutics announced.

Compared with controls, people with acromegaly showed a significantly higher prevalence of vertebral fractures — with many experiencing multiple and severe fractures. (The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism)