Obesity medications show functional improvements while new therapies for diabetes, autoimmune diseases, and viral infections advance through clinical trials with mixed safety profiles.

Obesity management medications improve patients' perceived physical function with modest impacts on objective functional measures, according to recent analysis of treatment outcomes.

GLP-1 medications deliver the most favorable quality-of-life outcomes in patients with combined obesity and type 2 diabetes compared to those with either condition alone or multiple comorbidities.

A Cambridge-developed AI vaccine targeting shared coronavirus features successfully completed phase I safety trials, with phase II studies now planned to advance development of a potential universal coronavirus vaccine.

Baricitinib shows increased risks of blood clots and serious infections compared to older biologics in rheumatoid arthritis patients, though no elevated heart disease or cancer risk was observed in safety trials.

Cigarette smokers have significantly lower Sjögren's disease diagnosis rates with reduced tissue damage and disease activity, suggesting smoking may mask or prevent disease pathology through unknown mechanisms.

Tirzepatide demonstrated no increased diabetic retinopathy risk in high-risk type 2 diabetes patients when compared directly with dulaglutide in clinical comparison studies.

Petrelintide, an amylin analog, reduces body weight with tolerability profiles similar to placebo, offering potential advantages over existing GLP-1 medications that often cause gastrointestinal side effects.

Tetrandrine, a Chinese herb-derived compound, shows efficacy signs in methotrexate-treated moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis patients, though high placebo response rates complicate interpretation of trial results.