The impact of modern medicine on the human condition can’t be underestimated. From antibiotics to vaccines, medicine has changed the way our bodies work, answered deadly questions, and promised faster cures.
But it’s not simple. Drug development is rife with tension. It costs a lot of money, and takes a long time. Most things fail. But when they succeed, they can make a tremendous difference in people’s lives.
Where will the next breakthroughs come from? How will we pay for them? Who decides who gets them?
This is SIGNAL, a podcast from Stat that sorts through the flood of health and medical news to deliver stories of the next development, controversy or breakthrough that will affect us all. Hosted by veteran biotech journalist Luke Timmerman and CNBC biotech and pharma reporter Meg Tirrell, SIGNAL explores the characters and the dramas behind today’s medicine, from biotech boardrooms, to research labs, to your corner pharmacy. Subscribe to us on iTunes and Stitcher, or visit us on our website, www.statnews.com.
If we told you that a century-old statistical test still rules scientific careers and costs (or makes) companies millions of dollars, wouldn't you wonder why? This Signal podcast was produced by Jocelyn Gonzales. Illustration by Molly Ferguson for STAT.
How did every parent's worst nightmare — the death of their child — spur the creation of an incentive system to turn making drugs for childhood cancer from a high-risk, low-reward gamble to a bet a company might make? This Signal podcast was produced by Jocelyn Gonzales. Illustration by Molly Ferguson for STAT.
The Signal podcast is now one year old. And in our first year, we've been able to cover so much truly fascinating science. It's also clear to us how much things have changed — and how much the understanding of science and medicine can evolve in single year. In this episode, we jump into our time machine to look back at human fecal matter transplants; drugs aimed at Duchenne muscular dystrophy and Alzheimer's; deaths in clinical trials; the cost of cures vs. drug prices; and the politics of medicine. This Signal podcast was produced by Jocelyn Gonzales. Illustration by Molly Ferguson for STAT.
Today, as Americans head to the polls — and wait for the returns to start coming in — we’re going to take a look back to what history can tell us about the future of our drugs and how we pay for them. And we will also tackle this question: Will your vote today have any effect on what happens next in the drug pricing debate? This Signal podcast was produced by Jocelyn Gonzales. Illustration by Molly Ferguson for STAT.
What if you could stop mosquito-borne diseases before you ever needed to make medicines to treat them? And what if the seeds of destruction for dengue, zika, and malaria could be carried in the genes of mosquitoes themselves? This future is not here ... but it may be nearer than you know. This Signal podcast was produced by Jocelyn Gonzales. Illustration by Molly Ferguson for STAT.
We take a deep dive into some of the nefariously creative tricks drug companies use to maintain monopolies and handle competition. This Signal podcast was produced by Jocelyn Gonzales. Illustration by Molly Ferguson for STAT.
In today's show, we take you on a Zika odyssey to meet some odd and unexpected characters, from helpful horses to genetically modified mosquitoes programmed to wipe out their own kind. They are helping to answer this question: Can science, government and business come together and work fast enough to keep pace with a global pandemic? This Signal podcast was produced by Jocelyn Gonzales. Illustration by Molly Ferguson for STAT.
The Chinese hamster has led a secret life in science for decades. By one estimate, 11 biotech drugs that are made using Chinese hamster ovary cells generated an incredible $57 billion in sales in 2013. That's pretty incredible, given the hamster's humble beginnings as a pest in Chinese fields. Listen to learn how something so small got so big. This Signal podcast was produced by Jocelyn Gonzales. Illustration by Molly Ferguson for STAT.
A deadly new superbug is just starting to surface worldwide. Who is to blame for its rise? Well, us, really. Public health officials are warning we could be headed toward a post-antibiotics world, unless we do something, and fast. So where does Signal start to tackle this story? Inside a cave, of course. This Signal podcast was produced by Katie Hiler. Illustration by Molly Ferguson for STAT.
How confident are you that the drugs you take, whether they're over-the-counter or prescription, are totally understood by the companies who make them? Drug makers know what their products do when they enter your body, right? You shouldn't assume that. In this episode of Signal, we talk everything from Tylenol to fen-phen to Viagra and why you should probably think hard before you take any drug at all. This Signal podcast was produced by Katie Hiler. Illustration by Molly Ferguson for STAT.
