3 Latest Medical Breakthroughs to Know About in 2024

A closer look at recent and potential approvals that could help older adults

Rachel Nania,

AARP

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En español

Published November 08, 2024

/ Updated November 12, 2024

The latest scientific advances that could help older adults

Paul Spella (Getty 4)

Research continues to revolutionize the way doctors and patients diagnose and treat a range of health conditions. Here’s a look at some of the latest medical advances and how they could help improve the lives of adults 50-plus.

1. An at-home test for COVID and flu

Just in time for respiratory illness season, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized an over-the-counter rapid test that can detect both COVID-19 and the flu — two common illnesses caused by different viruses that share a list of overlapping symptoms.

The test, from Healgen Scientific LLC, can detect proteins from the viruses that cause flu (influenza A and B) and COVID in about 15 minutes with a nose swab. It’s the first non-prescription combo test to hit the market with the FDA’s traditional approval process and not with emergency use authorization, like others available.

“The runny nose, the cough, the fever, the aches — that could be COVID, it could be influenza, it could be several other things, and being able to know what it is makes a huge difference, especially for people who are at higher risk for more severe illness,” says Gregory Martin, M.D., a professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine.

That’s because there are antiviral medications, like Paxlovid and Tamiflu, that can help keep an influenza or coronavirus infection from turning severe in high-risk individuals. But these treatments don’t work interchangeably, and they are most effective when started right away.

“Putting this in the hands of consumers allows people to figure out much more quickly and easily what's causing their symptoms,” Martin says. “And that makes a big difference for figuring out what to do next and what the treatment might be.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), symptoms for flu and COVID-19 can include:

Fever or feeling feverish/having chills
Cough
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Fatigue
Sore throat
Runny or stuffy nose
Muscle pain or body aches
Headache
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Change in or loss of taste or smell

Another common bug known as RSV (short for respiratory syncytial virus) can also cause many of these symptoms. Martin says an at-home test that can distinguish between the three illnesses — COVID, flu and RSV — could be here as soon as next year. “It's getting easier and easier to be able to do multiple combination tests like that,” he says.

In an October news release, Healgen said it is scaling up its production to meet consumer demand for its flu/COVID test. The company told AARP that the test should be availble for purchase by the end of Novemeber on Amazon. At-home tests typically cost between $25 and $30 for a pack of two.

2. A new medication for schizophrenia

Earlier this fall, the FDA approved a first-of-its-kind treatment for schizophrenia, a chronic brain disorder that affects how a person thinks, feels and behaves, and can cause serious symptoms, including hallucinations and delusions.

For decades, schizophrenia— which affects approximately 24 million people, worldwide, according to the World Health Organization — has been treated with drugs that target dopamine receptors. These medications, however, “can cause really adverse side effects,” says Hannah Brown, M.D., clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Boston University’s Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, including movement effects, weight gain, drowsiness and metabolic disfunction. The newly approved drug, Cobenfy, has a different target to treat symptoms and, as a result, comes with fewer undesirable side effects.

“It's really the tolerability that's beneficial with this new medication,” says Brown, who is also the director of the Wellness and Recovery After Psychosis (WRAP) program at Boston Medical Center. And that’s important when it comes to treating schizophrenia, since one of the biggest challenges among patients is medication discontinuation, she explains. “People have symptom relapses because they stop taking the medications, and they often stop taking them because the side effects are really terrible,” Brown says.

That’s not to say Cobenfy is without side effects. The most common reactions reported in clinical trials were nausea, indigestion, constipation, vomiting, hypertension, abdominal pain, diarrhea, tachycardia (increased heartbeat), dizziness and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), according to the FDA.

“This drug takes the first new approach to schizophrenia treatment in decades,” Tiffany Farchione, M.D., director of the Division of Psychiatry, Office of Neuroscience in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a news release. “This approval offers a new alternative to the antipsychotic medications people with schizophrenia have previously been prescribed.”

Brown notes that more research is needed to better understand the drug’s long-term tolerability and how well it treats symptoms compared to other medications on the market. Cost is also a consideration. The drug has a list price of $1,850 a month, according to its manufacturer, and insurance coverage will likely vary.

Still, doctors and researchers say the new option is a welcome one. “This is sort of the most hope we've had in a while for schizophrenia medication. So I think that's where we are in the field, is hopeful — cautiously hopeful,” Brown says.

3. A non-opioid pain killer

People going under the knife may soon have a new way to treat post-surgical pain.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals recently presented data from two late-stage clinical trials testing a non-opioid pain reliever in patients who had bunion surgery or a tummy tuck (abdominoplasty). Researchers leading the study found the experimental drug eased patients’ pain and worked better than the placebo, according to the results, which were unveiled at the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ (ASA) annual meeting in October. What’s more, side effects were minimal.

The oral pill, called suzetrigine, works by blocking a specific channel that helps to transmit pain signals from the peripheral nerves to the spinal cord and brain, which are “our central processing centers for pain,” explains pain expert Edward R. Mariano, M.D., a professor of anesthesiology at Stanford Medicine and a member of the ASA’s Committee on Regional Anesthesia and Acute Pain Medicine. Opioids, on the other hand, work directly in the brain and spinal cord, and, according to the Mayo Clinic, are considered highly addictive because of their effect on the brain.

“We're always looking for potential non-opioid medications that can be used for pain management, both acute and for chronic [pain]," Mariano says. U.S. overdose deaths involving opioids grew from roughly 29,000 in 2015 to a peak of nearly 85,000 in June of 2023, according to CDC data. And while there are non-opioid options in the arsenal, there aren’t many.

“One of the most important aspects of pain management is that we have to approach it from what we consider a multi-modal approach. You can't really rely on any single class of medications, as we have in the past with opioids,” Mariano says.

How well does suzetrigine stack up to the other pain relievers available? “That's the burning question,” Mariano says, and it’s likely one we won’t have an answer to until the medication is federally approved and on the market — which could be soon. Its drugmaker has applied for FDA approval under a priority review, and in a news release said a decision should be made by the end of January 2025.

Editor's note: This story, first published Nov. 8, 2024, has been updated with new information.

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