Health in 2024: the biggest medical advances and the research that gave us hope

Euronews Health takes a look at some of this year’s major medical advances and the key areas of health that have been most in demand by researchers.

Research on new weight loss medications to the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine, the year 2024 was marked by significant scientific advances, particularly in the field of health.

Euronews Health covered research that held out hope that new treatments or studies could improve people’s health through better diagnostics, medications and knowledge.

Here are some of the advances in healthcare over the past year and the topics that have received the most attention from researchers.

New diabetes drugs linked to benefits beyond weight loss

One class of diabetes drugs, GLP-1 receptor agonists, has been making waves in recent years, and this year is no exception, with several new studies analyzing the impact of these blockbuster drugs.

As well as helping patients with type 2 diabetes and obesity, these drugs are now associated with a range of other benefits.

Research published this year showed that semaglutide – marketed as Ozempic or Wegovy – reduced cardiovascular events such as strokes and heart attacks in adults with pre-existing conditions.

These drugs have also been associated with a reduction in kidney failure, and another drug in the same class, Tirzepatide, appears to reduce the severity of sleep apnea.

Dr Elizabeth Loder, head of research at the British Medical Journal (BMJ), told Euronews Health that it would be interesting to see whether the “lifetime” weight loss benefits of these drugs translate into reductions in all of these other outcomes.

But, she added, “we don’t know what the long-term consequences will be,” or whether patients will need to continue taking these medications or risk regaining weight.

Twice-yearly HIV injection more effective than daily pill

New research was published this year on a twice-weekly human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) injection that is more effective than the daily oral pill (pre-exposure prophylaxis) in preventing the virus.

HIV, which has killed an estimated 42 million people worldwide, can now be prevented and managed as a chronic disease. Yet of the estimated 39.9 million people living with the virus worldwide, more than 9 million do not have access to treatment, according to UNAIDS.

A study published in July in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that no women who received the biannual injection contracted HIV in a randomized trial.

Results released in November then showed the injection was 96% effective in preventing HIV infections in men.

HIV experts have called the research “stunning” and “unprecedented.”

New blood tests for Alzheimer’s disease

A Swedish study published this year showed that a blood test could determine with 90% accuracy whether a person had Alzheimer’s disease.

This could make the process of diagnosing the disease less tedious, as patients currently need a spinal fluid sample or a PET scan to determine if they have Alzheimer’s disease.

This neurodegenerative disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting around 7.8 million people in the European Union.

New treatments for some Alzheimer’s patients were also approved this year.

For example, European regulators gave the green light (in English) to Lecanemab, a drug against Alzheimer’s disease, after initially rejecting it. A trial showed that this drug slowed cognitive decline linked to the disease.

AI and cancer therapies

Ms Loder of the BMJ told Euronews Health that the scientific journal was receiving many research proposals on the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and how doctors compare to technology in diagnosis, but that they were often linked to a single entity of illness.

She also said there was a lot of interest in “new cancer therapies,” such as immune checkpoint inhibitors — a type of immunotherapy — and more personalized cancer therapies.

“We’re seeing personalized or somewhat personalized therapies coming in and changing outcomes, not necessarily curing people, but significantly extending life. So I would say that’s an emerging area of interest,” she declared.

The British National Health Service (NHS) notably launched a trial of personalized cancer vaccines this year.

Dr. Eric Rubin, editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, said in an email to Euronews Health that along with research into weight loss drugs, “the impact of AI in medicine” was another area that received several journal articles and media coverage.

Mr. Rubin also highlighted studies published this year regarding specific treatments for breast cancer and Hodgkin’s lymphoma that have “changed the practice” of physician readers.

The continuing fallout from COVID and the impact of climate change

THE lingering effects of COVIDwhich a recent study showed can persist for years in young people, as well as research into the links between ultra-processed foods and several adverse health effects are also important topics, experts say.

Climate change and its impact on health is also a major area of interest for researchers, with more studies linking air pollution to health problems or examining the impact of industry health care on climate, Mr. Loder said.

A large Danish study published in the BMJ this year, for example, found that air pollution was linked to infertility in men and that noise pollution was linked to infertility in women.

Rubin added that readers of the New England Journal of Medicine were “particularly interested in the emergence of avian influenza (H5N1) and other infectious disease outbreaks around the world.”