SAN FRANCISCO — For the past 15 years, Gerald W. Smetana, MD, MACP, from Harvard Medical School, has given a presentation at the ACP Internal Medicine Meeting about new drugs that primary care physicians should be aware of.
This year, he highlighted four:
“Overall, I found this to be a very promising year,” Smetana told Healio, referring to the number of new drugs that might have a role in the primary care setting this year, “which is more than I’ve seen in previous years.”
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Watch Gerald W. Smetana, MD, MACP, review the safety, efficacy and cost of

People taking GLP-1s had reduced risk for atrial fibrillation, regardless of whether they lost weight or how much they lost, according to findings presented at Heart Rhythm 2026.
“We were prompted to undertake this study by some encouraging data that ... GLP-1 receptor agonists seem to have a favorable effect on reducing the incidence of atrial fibrillation, particularly in patients with metabolic risk factors,” Kenneth C. Bilchick, MD, MS, professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, who presented the findings, told Healio. “I think the results were

Online searches for gun-related harm are more prevalent in youth and young adults with poorer mental health or socioeconomic disadvantages, a study published in JAMA Network Open showed.
Gun violence, declared a public health crisis by the surgeon general in 2024, has remained one of the leading causes of death among American youth over the last couple years.
“Access to information about guns and gun-related harm has increased with the advent of
technology and websites that host information about this topic,” Kimberly J. Mitchell, PhD, a research professor of psychology at the

CHICAGO — Early-onset colorectal cancer is rising in the U.S., with Hispanic and white adults, residents of Western states and those aged 35 to 44 years at greatest risk, according to study results presented at Digestive Disease Week.
The rectal cancer mortality rate is growing particularly fast, two to three times faster than colon cancer mortality.
“This is a drastic shift from prior generations, and it’s concerning because these individuals are not routinely screened,” Mythili Menon Pathiyil, MBBS, gastroenterology fellow at SUNY Upstate Medical University, said in a media briefing prior to

Dry eye disease is a multifactorial disease characterized by a loss of homeostasis on the ocular surface.
Patients with dry eye disease (DED) may present with symptoms such as dryness, itchiness, grittiness and burning, along with clinical signs such as ocular surface inflammation, conjunctival and corneal staining, decreases in tear production and tear film instability. However, the signs and symptoms of DED may not always correlate with each other, which can complicate and potentially delay diagnosis.
I see these patients every day in my practice; they often come to me complaining of how

MUNICH — In a study presented at ESCMID Global, a biological clock showed ART slows down the accelerated aging in people with HIV by nearly 4 years.
Researchers analyzed patterns in hundreds of blood proteins from patients receiving ART to create a plasma proteomic aging clock (PAC), a tool used to approximate biological age vs. chronological age.
The PAC estimated that people with HIV had a mean reduction of 3.7 years in biological age after a median interval of 1.55 years of receiving ART. The clock also assessed that untreated HIV accelerated a person’s biological age by a median of 10

A 13-year-old boy with no history presented after 4 days of progressively worsening whole body rash.
Nine days before presentation, the patient’s mother reported that he had experienced low-grade fever, runny nose, chills, sore throat and muscle pain that were managed with supportive measures including ibuprofen, acetaminophen, fluticasone propionate nasal sprays, guaifenesin, doxylamine succinate and dextromethorphan. Perioral lesions were first noted 4 days before presentation, followed by widespread involvement of the face, chest and arms 1 day prior. He had no ocular history.
On initial

CHICAGO — Adults with focal onset seizures experienced significant reductions in their seizure frequency with azetukalner, according to a speaker at the American Academy of Neurology Annual Meeting.
The safety and tolerability of the novel KV7 channel opener were consistent with previous research as well, Jacqueline A. French, MD, professor, department of neurology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, said during her presentation.
The 374 adults (mean age, 40 years; 50.8% women) in the randomized phase 3 X-TOLE2 trial had a median duration of focal epilepsy of 25.09 years and a

Children and adolescents with type 2 diabetes had an improvement in HbA1c at 26 weeks with a once-daily oral GLP-1, according to topline results from the PIONEER TEENS phase 3a trial.
As Healio previously reported, oral semaglutide (Ozempic pill, Novo Nordisk) was approved by the FDA under the brand name Rybelsus as the first GLP-1 to treat type 2 diabetes for adults in 2019. According to a press release from Novo Nordisk, the PIONEER TEENS trial was the first to assess an oral GLP-1 for type 2 diabetes treatment in the pediatric population.
In the trial, researchers enrolled 132 children and

Plant-based diets are a hot topic in chronic illness management, but they are often misperceived as an eating pattern that includes only plant-based foods and excludes animal products, according to experts who spoke with Healio.
“As soon as we say vegan or vegetarian diet, it can immediately shut down conversations from both doctors and patients,” Melanie Betz, MS, RD, CSR, FNKF, FAND, a researcher and educator in kidney nutrition and founder and CEO of The Kidney Dietitian, told Healio. “It’s not necessarily a diet totally void of animal-based products — they simply include more fruits,