Reframe Daily: Semaglutide reverses liver scarring; new orexin pill boosts alertness; HER2 “two-handed” drug shrinks tumors fast

Reframe Daily is where Christin Chong (neuroscience PhD, chaplain, healthtech strategy consultant) curates optimistic and credible healthtech news so you don’t have to.

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Today in one sentence: A weekly injection of semaglutide helped reverse scarring in fatty livers; an experimental orexin pill let people with narcolepsy stay alert without sudden collapses; a “two-handed” antibody-drug combo shrank tough HER2-positive breast tumors; and a long-follow-up study shows aggressive chemo plus rituximab can leave many mantle-cell-lymphoma patients cancer-free for nearly 20 years.

Good news: A diabetes drug already on pharmacy shelves could soon help heal fatty, inflamed livers. In a study of people and lab models, semaglutide reversed key signs of NASH (a serious liver disease) and calmed liver-damaging inflammation.

Semaglutide eases scarring and swelling in metabolic liver disease

Market readiness: 😊😊😊 (mid-phase human data; drug is FDA-approved for other uses, so a new indication could reach patients in a few years)

Good news: People with narcolepsy type 1 stayed wide-awake after taking daily pills of alixorexton in a phase 2 trial—showing big gains in alertness and fewer sudden “cataplexy” collapses.

Alkermes pill boosts daytime wakefulness in narcolepsy trial

Market readiness: 😊😊 (phase 2 success; larger trials still needed, but oral pill format speeds development)

Good news: An experimental “two-handed” antibody-drug conjugate, JSKN003, shrank tumors in 73 % of hard-to-treat HER2-positive breast-cancer patients at the target dose, with manageable side effects.

New biparatopic ADC delivers strong early responses in advanced HER2+ breast cancer

Market readiness: 😊😊 (combined phase 1/2 data; pivotal phase 3 already under way)

Good news: After 18 years of follow-up, a tough chemo-plus-rituximab regimen from the Nordic MCL2/MCL3 trials left one-quarter of younger mantle-cell-lymphoma patients alive and still in their first complete remission—evidence that this blood cancer can be functionally cured.

Long-term study suggests many younger mantle-cell-lymphoma patients are effectively cured

Market readiness: 😊😊😊😊 (therapy is already standard in specialized centers; new data confirm lasting benefit)

Thank you for taking the time to take care of yourself and your loved ones.