A health story dominated the headlines for almost the entire year 2020: the coronavirus pandemic.
But while Covid-19 has slowed medical research in other areas, science has not stopped. Researchers have developed new ways to deal with common illnesses and even a treatment for another feared virus.
Here are the achievements that may have escaped the public’s radar in 2020.
A treatment for Ebola
Six years ago, the world was looking at a different virus: Ebola in West Africa. In October, the Food and Drug Administration approved Inmazeb, the first treatment for the deadly disease.
Inmazeb is a cocktail of monoclonal antibodies made by the pharmaceutical company Regeneron. A study that began in 2018 during an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo showed that the drug improved survival rates; the researchers found that nearly 34 percent of patients who received Inmazeb died, compared with 51 percent of patients who received a control.
Monoclonal antibodies are produced in the laboratory to mimic the body’s natural immune response. This year, Regeneron also developed a cocktail of monoclonal antibodies for Covid-19, which President Donald Trump received when he was hospitalized with the disease.
In December, the FDA approved a second treatment for Ebola, another drug with a monoclonal antibody called Ebanga, made by Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.
Weekly insulin injection
People with type 2 diabetes can get relief from daily injections with an experimental form of insulin. In September, researchers at the Dallas Diabetes Research Center found that an injection of insulin once a week was able to lower blood sugar as well as a daily injection of insulin in people with type 2 diabetes.
The survey, although relatively small, with only 247 participants, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The hope is that patients with type 2 diabetes are more likely to have an injection once a week than a daily injection.
A pill to reduce the risk of heart problems
A single pill that combines four drugs designed to lower blood pressure and cholesterol plus an aspirin was found in November to reduce the risk of heart disease, the country’s leading cause of death.
A large study of 5,713 participants published in November found that so-called polypill reduced the risk of heart attack and stroke in at-risk patients by almost a third.
The polyp pill used in the study was a combination of a statin called simvastatin, a beta blocker called atenolol, a diuretic called hydrochlorothiazide and an ACE inhibitor called ramipril. All are sold as generics, which means that this can be a low-cost method for treating patients at risk for cardiac events.
Furthermore, patients may be more likely to comply with the doctor’s orders if they need to fill and take only one pill, instead of four.
A blood test to detect Alzheimer’s disease
Also in November, the first blood test to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease was made available in the US
The test, from C2N Diagnostics of St. Louis, Missouri, measures two types of amyloid proteins – generally considered a hallmark of Alzheimer’s – and looks for evidence that a person has a genetic risk factor for the disease. It is aimed at people aged 60 and over who have memory problems and are being evaluated for Alzheimer’s. It is expensive ($ 1,250) and is not covered by health insurance. Results are generally expected within 10 days.
Data on the accuracy of the test has not been made public and has not yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. External experts remained cautious, but said that even if the blood test showed a low likelihood of true Alzheimer’s, it could give doctors a clue that something else may be causing memory problems, such as side effects of medications or even deficiencies in vitamins.
Towards a cure for sickle cell disease
The beginning of December brought early but promising results from the first studies on gene editing for hereditary and painful blood disorders most likely to occur among people of African descent.
The technology, called CRISPR, involves the permanent alteration of DNA in a person’s blood cells. The approach could possibly cure sickle cell disease, in which crescent-shaped red blood cells clump to the point that they cannot flow easily throughout the body, depriving organs and tissues of the oxygen they need.
Using CRISPR, doctors are essentially able to turn off a defective gene that creates the problem. In the studies, 10 patients were able to remain pain free for at least several months and did not receive regular blood transfusions, previously needed to treat their disorders.
The only other potential cure for sickle cell disease involves a complicated bone marrow transplant from a similar donor who does not have the disease.
Pediatric heart hope
One of the latest advances in 2020 was the Food and Drug Administration’s approval for a heart pump to be used in children who need a heart transplant.
Abbott’s HeartMate 3 cardiac pump is intended for children with a specific condition called advanced refractory left ventricular heart failure, which requires a complete heart transplant. Without intervention, the condition is deadly, as the heart is too weak to pump on its own.
Two years after the implant – which is permanent – Abbott said that patients who received the pump had a survival rate of 79 percent, comparable to those who received a heart transplant.
But patients who receive heart transplants must be given medications to suppress the body’s natural immune response and attack the new heart for the rest of their lives. A device like Abbott does not require such a medication.
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