1: The Reflux Prescription You Can’t Fill at the Pharmacy


A cohort study of 145 patients with laryngopharyngeal reflux found that following an antireflux diet and focusing on stress-reduction activities may be highly effective for reducing symptoms. Strict adherence to a low-fat, low-quick-release sugar, high-protein diet, combined with a wellness activity program, helped tame reflux after 3 months compared to conventional medical therapies, including proton pump inhibitors, antacids, or alginates, with a moderate diet. The next step to confirm the best way to reduce reflux would be a randomized controlled trial comparing each regimen.

2: Telling Back Pain to Back Off… Virtually?


A randomized controlled trial of 451 patients with chronic low back pain examined the efficacy of a telehealth-delivered mindfulness group for reducing pain intensity. Compared to usual care, patients who attended the group program reported significant improvements in pain, enjoyment of life, and general activity after 6 and 8 weeks. The delivery of the program was also accessible, offering a scalable nonpharmacological option for chronic back pain management.

3: When Brain Injury Muddies the Biomarker Waters

A cross-sectional cohort study looked at how traumatic brain injuries (TBI) affected the accuracy of Alzheimer disease (AD) blood biomarkers. In 272 older veterans, the plasma p-tau217/Aβ42 ratio test was highly accurate in those without a TBI history, but significantly less sensitive in those with a history of brain trauma. These findings suggest that brain injury history and severity may influence AD blood test accuracy and should be considered when interpreting results.

Drug Shortages ⚠️

PMS-Hydromorphone

Newly Approved Drugs ✨

Vimkunya: immunization to prevent disease caused by chikungunya virus infection for individuals 12 years of age and older.

Boey: temporary improvement of moderate to severe glabellar lines (frown lines) in adult patients.

Stopping cancer before it spreads to the brain

What happened: Researchers at McMaster University have developed new preclinical drug candidates aimed at stopping cancer cells before they form brain metastases.

Why it matters: Once cancer spreads to the brain, treatment options become limited. The new approach targets inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase 2 (IMPDH2), an enzyme that appears to play a key role in helping lung, breast, skin, and other cancers spread to the brain.

Current treatment for metastatic brain cancer is largely palliative, with about 90% of patients dying within the first year of diagnosis, according to a professor in McMaster’s Department of Surgery. Once cancer cells cross the blood-brain barrier and form tumours, the disease becomes extremely difficult to treat. Radiation can also damage healthy brain tissue, leaving some survivors with lasting cognitive effects.

The McMaster team’s strategy is different: instead of treating brain metastases after they develop, they are trying to prevent them from forming in the 1st place.

The researchers are targeting IMPDH2, which appears to be critical to the cells that initiate brain metastases. IMPDH has been studied previously as a potential cancer drug target, but earlier IMPDH-blocking drugs caused significant side effects because they also affected healthy cells. IMPDH2 may offer a more targeted approach because it is not abundant in healthy tissue and appears to be produced at much higher levels in brain metastasis–initiating cells.

So, what’s next? The research is still in the preclinical stage, but the team has already designed and synthesized several hundred IMPDH2-targeting drug candidates. The goal is to refine the most promising compounds into a treatment that could one day be used in patients at high risk of brain metastases from lung cancer, breast cancer, skin cancer, or other cancers.

Human trials have not yet begun, and experts say it could still take years before a drug reaches patients. However, researchers report that their leading candidates already show several characteristics needed for clinical development, including the ability to remain active in the body, cross the blood-brain barrier, and work alongside existing cancer therapies.

Bottom line: This is not a cure for brain cancer. But it represents a potential shift in strategy: rather than waiting for cancer cells to invade the brain and then trying to treat the damage, researchers are working toward stopping that spread before it begins.

1:🩸 Forget gauze and pressure. This powder stops severe bleeding in about 1 second flat, just by reacting with calcium in blood to form an instant hydrogel seal, according to a study published in Advanced Functional Materials. It's made from alginate, gellan gum, and chitosan, and unlike flat patch-style products, it molds itself into deep, irregular wounds and soaks up more than 7 times its own weight in blood. In surgical liver injury models, it beat commercial hemostatic agents on blood loss and time-to-stop, caused no systemic toxicity, and still worked after 2 years sitting in heat and humidity. It started as a battlefield fix and it’s still early-stage animal-model research, but researchers say it's got a shot at civilian ORs and under-resourced emergency settings too.

2:💉 Health Canada is temporarily allowing the import and sale of a Chinese-approved version of ifosfamide to ease a critical shortage of the injectable chemo drug, marking the 1st time it's permitted an exceptional import from a Chinese source. The drug, used to treat soft tissue sarcoma, pancreatic cancer, and cervical cancer, matches the Canadian version in active ingredient, strength, and dosage form, though it requires different (lower) storage temperatures, and Health Canada is asking hospitals to add extra labelling to avoid mix-ups. The shortage isn't just a Canadian problem either, with the European Medicines Agency flagging an ongoing shortage of Baxter's ifosfamide products expected to run into early 2027.

3:🚨 Opioid overdose calls have risen sharply in 4 Ontario cities compared with last year, according to a CBC analysis. In the first 5 months of 2026, calls were up 20% in Thunder Bay and 199% in Hamilton. Toronto’s non-fatal opioid overdose calls increased nearly 115%, while Ottawa saw a 52% rise in overdose calls overall, including non-opioid cases. Researchers and harm-reduction workers point to several possible factors, including a more toxic drug supply — with substances such as medetomidine, a veterinary sedative, increasingly detected — and the closure of some supervised consumption sites. Ontario says it is investing $560 million in 29 abstinence-based HART Hubs as part of a shift in its approach to addiction care.

🍽️ Make: this zucchini and feta couscous salad that turns broiled zucchini ribbons and walnuts into a fast, fresh summer side. Toss it with a maple Dijon walnut dressing, and it's ready in 30 minutes flat.

🎧 Listen: how buprenorphine, methadone, and naltrexone stack up against each other for treating opioid use disorder. This podcast breaks down the pharmacology behind each option, plus the practical pearls that come up most often in daily practice.

📚 Learn: when a topical medication actually beats an oral analgesic, and how to guide patients toward the right one. This 15-minute course breaks down NSAIDs, lidocaine, capsaicin, and the rest, plus how to counsel patients so they actually use it right.

🔥 Read: why staring into a campfire is one of summer's simplest pleasures. This explainer unpacks the evolutionary theory behind our fascination with flames and research showing fire watching measurably lowers blood pressure.

💰 Save: on a major appliance upgrade while Best Buy runs its Black Friday in Summer sale. There's up to 40% off washers, dryers, fridges, and ranges, including some deals over $1,000 off.

🌍 Learn: what's on the agenda when the FIP World Congress lands in Montreal from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2, the first time it's been hosted in Canada since 1997. Details and registration are up now, with standard rates good until Aug. 13.

📺 Watch: a biomedical scientist fact-checks the latest wellness claims making the rounds, from lion's mane to beef tallow and seed oils. In this video, Dr. Andrea Love also tackles fluoride fears, glucose spikes, and germ theory denialism.

First clue: Aptly named rapid ultrasound exam to detect internal bleeding, abbr.

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