Dan MacDonald 🧬🍺

Sciencephile, beerphile, dad of knuckleheads. The plural of anecdote is misinformation. Don’t do your own research, learn to interpret data.

[Derek Thompson @DKThomp]

This has quietly been a miracle month in medicine.

In the last 5 weeks we’ve got news on:

- retatrutide, the triple agonist GLP-1 from Lilly, basically melting fat and body-wide inflammation at record levels
- RevMed’s new pancreatic cancer drug showing unprecedented abilities to extend life
- small trial of a one-and-done PCSK9 gene editing therapy for slashing LDL cholesterol
- Mayo’s AI-assisted radiology showing vastly improved cancer detection
- this new therapy for metastatic solid tumors

This stuff is at varying levels of evidence. Retatrutide is ~100% on its way, other stuff needs more clinical trial data. But put it together and we’re maybe on the verge of majorly reducing the mortality of heart disease and cancer, the two leading causes of death in America.

[George Wallace @MrGeorgeWallace]

In the end we were just his latest casino and whatnot.

[Avi Roy @agingroy]

Five cancers that used to be death sentences. Pancreatic. Glioblastoma. Triple-negative breast. Renal. Melanoma. The median survival for metastatic pancreatic cancer is still 6 months. Glioblastoma, 15 months.

Now personalized mRNA vaccines are producing complete remissions in some of these patients. Not responses. Remissions.

BioNTech’s pancreatic cancer vaccine has 6-year follow-up data. 8 of 16 patients who mounted an immune response are still alive. For a cancer that kills 95% of patients within 5 years, that's incredible.

Topol’s pyramid here maps the trajectory. From broad checkpoint inhibitors at the base to personalized neoantigen vaccines at the peak. The technology is climbing.

[Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D @RVAwonk]

New leaked documents suggest the Trump admin has quietly co-opted tools — some w/ military capabilities — that were once justified in the name of protecting Americans from foreign influence, and turned them inward to map, monitor, & target U.S. political dissidents. Link below.

[Chris Murphy 🟧 @ChrisMurphyCT]

This Ebola outbreak has been a slow motion disaster - 900 cases and and now threatening the U.S..

We know how to stop outbreaks like this. But Trump chose not to stop it. He destroyed our global health team, deliberately exposing us.

1/ Here's the story of how this happened.

[Micah Erfan @micah_erfan]

Never forget that one of Trump’s first actions as President was to tear apart America’s largest consumer protection agency.

[Ryan Grim @ryangrim]

There are people behind their screens who see these rescue workers tending to a girl and her father, and they press a button and end their lives, then go get lunch as if they are not monsters who should be in prison for life

[Seth Abramson @SethAbramson]

This is only the beginning.

He has no plans to leave office or allow free elections. Nor are his plans hidden—they're all unfolding in plain sight.

The Insurrection never ended and the Christofascists won't stop until our democracy is gone.

Choose who you'll be in this moment.

[The Tennessee Holler @TheTNHoller]

“If white Christian Nationalists can’t win the majority of voters, they’re going to use the levers of power to enshrine minority rule.”

Want to understand what’s really happening across 🇺🇸, especially in the South? Watch these 3 minutes👇🏽

(From the movie “God And Country”)

[g. @GeauxGabrielle]

This is public health by the way.

[Dr. Allison Wiltz @queenie4rmnola]

Throwing away 40,000 ballots is fascism.

[Fred Wellman @FPWellman]

Monstrous.

[Chris Towler @blkprofcct]

The fact that almost EVERY former confederate state is moving to completely eliminate Black representatives almost immediately after the SCOTUS decision should be more than enough proof that voting rights still need protection and racism is far from gone in this country.

[Blue Georgia @BlueGeorgia]

This is a Pulitzer level photo.

[Don Winslow @donwinslow]

How is this not a major news story?

[Neil Stone @DrNeilStone]

The CDC has been gutted.

I'm telling you now.

The US is NOT ready for the next pandemic

[MeidasTouch @MeidasTouch]

🚨🚨 A new report from The New York Times reveals FDA officials blocked publication of taxpayer-funded studies showing COVID-19 and shingles vaccines are SAFE, with serious side effects extremely rare.

Health experts are calling this an act of censorship. Calls for investigations are already growing.