Two new combination therapies that have the potential to cure patients with long-term hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and rule out the need for interferon are being recommended for approval across the EU.

Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the US. Most of the people who die from the disease die from secondary cancers in other parts of the body – such as the liver – not the primary one in the bowel.

Conventional treatments for colorectal cancer often have poor outcomes because by the time the disease is detected, the cancercells have spread to other organs. They can sit there for years, lying dormant and undetected, until something triggers them to grow into secondary tumors that then become the cause of death.

Researchers have discovered a gut microbe that could be effective for improving leanness and metabolic health among people who are overweight or obese.

Published in the journal Gut, the study reveals that greater abundance of a bacterium called Akkermansia muciniphila – which makes up around 3-5% of a healthy individual’s gut microbiome – was associated with lower blood glucose and lipids, as well as healthier distribution of body fat.