University of California, Los Angeles

MONDAY, March 2, 2026 — Some men who’ve had surgery for prostate cancer can probably skip hormone suppression therapy without harm, a new study says. Men typically undergo radiation and hormone therapy following prostate cancer surgery to reduce the risk of their cancer coming back. However, the hormone therapy appears to provide little survival benefit for most of these men, researchers reported Feb. 26 in The Lancet . “Our findings show that for most men with detectable but low PSA levels after surgery to remove the prostate, post-operative radiotherapy is highly effective on its own,” said lead researcher Dr. Amar Kishan , executive vice chair of radiation oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “By safely omitting hormone therapy in these patients, we can potentially spare them months of treatment that may substantially affect their quality of life without extending survival,” he said in a news release. Hormone therapy blocks the production of testosterone, which fuels the growth of some prostate cancers, researchers said in background notes. The treatment “has been shown to improve outcomes when combined with radiotherapy in men whose prostates are still intact,” Kishan said. “However, whether it has a similar benefit for men receiving radiotherapy after prior surgery has remained unclear.” Hormone therapy also carries significant side effects for men, including severe fatigue, hot flashes, sexual dysfunction, weight gain, bone loss and increased risk of heart disease, researchers said. For the new study, researchers analyzed data from more than 6,000 men who took part in six clinical trials comparing radiation therapy alone to radiation combined with short-term or long-term hormone therapy. Results showed that about the same percentage of men were alive after 10 years whether or not they got hormone therapy – around 84%. Researchers also found that extending short-term hormone therapy to long-term did not further improve survival, but did modestly lower the risk of cancer spreading to other parts of the body. However, men with higher PSA levels did show modest improvements in survival, suggesting that hormone therapy might be worthwhile for them. PSA (prostate-specific antigen) is produced by the prostate gland, and elevated levels can be a sign of prostate cancer. “Our goal is always to treat the cancer while minimizing harm,” Kishan said. “This study helps us move toward more personalized care for men with prostate cancer. By better identifying who truly benefits from hormone therapy, we can make treatment smarter, reduce unnecessary interventions and focus on improving patients’ overall well-being.” Sources UCLA, news release, Feb. 26, 2026

FRIDAY, Feb. 27, 2026 — A brain stimulation therapy for depression can show results in as little as a workweek, a new study says. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) typically requires daily clinic visits over six to eight weeks, a rather rigorous schedule for people grappling with depression. But patients can see benefits in as little as five days if they undergo five sessions per day, researchers will report in the June issue of the Journal of Affective Disorders . This “five-by-five” treatment eased depression scores on par with conventional TMS among a small group of patients, researchers found. “For patients with treatment-resistant depression, getting to the clinic every weekday for at least six weeks can be a real obstacle,” said lead researcher Michael Apostol , a doctoral student at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. “What this study suggests is that we may be able to offer those same patients a path to meaningful relief in less than one week by condensing 25 TMS treatments over just five days,” he said in a news release. TMS applies magnetic pulses to stimulate specific areas of the brain through electrodes placed on a patient’s scalp. Large studies have shown that TMS can significantly reduce depression symptoms in 60% to 70% of patients, with 25% to 35% becoming completely symptom-free, researchers said in background notes. In fact, most insurance plans cover TMS treatment for depression, researchers said. To see if TMS could be applied more efficiently, researchers had 40 patients receive an accelerated protocol of five sessions per day for five days in a row. Each session took nine to 15 minutes. Their progress was compared to another group of 135 patients who received conventional TMS therapy of one session a day, five days a week, for six weeks. All of the patients suffered from depression that had not been eased using antidepressant medications. Both groups showed meaningful reductions in depression symptoms, with no statistically significant difference in outcomes, researchers said. Interestingly, half of the five-by-five patients did not show an immediate improvement in their depression, but showed a 36% decrease in symptoms after two to four weeks. “All patients in this study had not benefited from multiple trials of antidepressant medication, yet they obtained great benefit from five-by-five treatment,” senior researcher Dr. Andrew Leuchter , director of the TMS Service at UCLA, said in a news release. “Some patients need to wait a few days or weeks to see benefit, and we encourage them not to give up too quickly if they don't feel better right away,” Leuchter said. “We are finding that the benefits of five-by-five can be even greater” if additional days of treatment occur after two weeks. However, researchers noted that this was not a formal clinical trial, and that larger trials will be needed to confirm their findings. Sources UCLA, news release, Feb. 23, 2026

The FDA has signed off on Immedica Pharma's ultrarare disease treatment Loargys four years after it refused to review a marketing application for the recombinant human enzyme from another drugmaker. Four years after the FDA issued its most heavy-handed form of a rejection to the prior company behind pegzilarginase, the U.S. regulator has now given the treatment a thumbs-up.Scoring the accelerated nod is Immedica Pharma for Loargys as a therapy for hyperargininemia in the ultrarare genetic disorder Arginase 1 deficiency (ARG1-D). The approval covers patients age 2 and older, with the therapy to be used in conjunction with a protein-restricted diet. Loargys, which is also known as pegzilarginase, is a recombinant human enzyme designed to lower levels of arginine in patients who are unable to break down the amino acid. It is the first treatment to address the elevated levels of plasma arginine associated with the disorder. The approval also comes after the FDA issued a complete response letter (CRL) to the company in August of last year citing major deficiencies across efficacy, dosing/administration, safety and labeling.ARG1-D affects an estimated 250 people in the U.S., with the current standard of care relying on symptom management including diet restrictions, arginine-free amino acid supplementation and nitrogen scavenging agents. Patients are often diagnosed in late infancy or early childhood, and the symptoms include spasticity, seizures and intellectual disability. “The accelerated approval of Loargys offers a fundamentally new approach that addresses the enzyme deficiency itself,” Stephen Cederbaum, M.D., a professor of human and medical genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a release. “Since persistently elevated arginine and its metabolites have been reported to be the proximal or direct driver of disease progression, this is a major advancement in metabolic medicine.” The company expects to make Loargys—which is infused or injected weekly—available in the U.S. in April. The green light comes after the FDA dismissed a marketing application for pegzilarginase in 2022 from Texas-based Aeglea BioTherapeutics, handing down a refusal-to-file (RTF) letter. An RTF is issued when the agency determines an application cannot be reviewed due to deficiencies that cannot be quickly resolved.A year after the rejection, Aeglea sold pegzilarginase to its European partner Immedica for $15 million upfront and $100 million in potential milestones.While a clinical trial of pegzilarginase linked it to an 80% reduction in mean plasma arginine compared to placebo, there were questions about whether it improved the health of patients. While mobility scores for patients improved in the treatment arm and worsened in the placebo group, the difference fell short of statistical significance. To ultimately gain FDA approval of Loargys, Immedica relied on results from the same trial, while also submitting additional "long-term data," it said in an email. "The application was resubmitted with additional data, analyses and clarifications addressing each of the FDA’s objections in the refusal to file and advice in regulatory interactions, which ultimately supported the agency’s decision to accept the filing for review," the company added.Additionally, in the August CRL, the FDA suggested the possibility of an accelerated-approval pathway "only with a postmarketing confirmatory trial designed to validate surrogate endpoints and demonstrate clinical benefit."In December 2023, Sweden-based Immedica earned marketing approval of Loargys from the European Medicines Agency. The private company, which was established in 2018 by Nordic investment firm Impilo, does not report sales of its products.At the end of 2024, Immedica acquired troubled Marinus Pharmaceuticals and its seizure medicine Ztalmy, which was approved in 2022.EDITOR'S NOTE: Immedica's responses to questions about how it ultimately gained FDA approval of Loargys were added to the story after it was initially published.