Here is the medical news to watch for May 19-25, 2025

Summary: A registry study, presented at the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) meeting, raised questions about the safety of pulsed field ablation for atrial fibrillation – or did it? Here experts – including 2 authors – comment on the findings and what they actually mean. The bottom line: There is no emergency, but a larger registry might be a good idea. The key takeaways: PFA to stay the major ablation technology, large registry needed (HRS?), less over-ablation, and more research, studies, and new devices. The regulators may have the last word

In a special pre-AACR event, 17 pharmas and biotechs talked about their focus in oncology, their pipeline, and answered questions. Key takeaways included: More attention needs to be paid to what China is doing and to the role of artificial intelligence., Most big companies are open to collaborations with smaller companies with good science, and the key drug classes highlighted included, ADCs, bispecifics, CAR Ts, immunotherapies, menin inhibitors, protein degraders, radiopharmaceuticals, and T-cell engagers

The PainConnect meeting, sponsored by the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM), offered an opportunity to learn more about the outlook for a newly approved non-opioid (Vertex's Journavx) and two new pain medications in development -- Tris Pharma's cebranopadol and Tonix Pharmaceuticals' TNX-102 SL.

March was a busy month for the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), with two major conferences in Paris: the ESMO Targeted Anticancer Therapies (TAT) Congress and the European Lung Cancer Congress (ELCC). Neither meeting was virtual, but ESMO arranged two zoom sessions with reporters. Here are some highlights from those sessions.

Drug development is alive and well in dermatology, and among the interesting data on new drugs/new uses for existing drugs presented in a latebreaker session at AAD this year were:
• Alumis’ ESK-001, a TYK2 inhibitor for psoriasis.
• Johnson & Johnson/Janssen Biotech and Protagonist Therapeutics’ icotrokinra, an oral IL-23R inhibitor for psoriasis.
• Jasper Therapeutics’ briquilimab, an anti-CD117 for chronic spontaneous urticaria.

Dermatology continues to be a hot area for drug development – both new drugs and new uses for existing drugs. Among the studies that stood out this year at AAD were:
• Leo Pharma’s Anzupgo (delgocitinib), a JAK inhibitor in hand eczema
• Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi’s Dupixent (dupilumab), an anti-IL-4R in bullous pemphigoid
• Bristol Myers Squibb’s Sotyktu (deucravacitinib), a TYK2 inhibitor for lichen planopilaris
• Lilly’s Olumiant (baricitinib), a JAK inhibitor for adolescent alopecia areata

This conference offered a great update on 13 different drugs, both approved and in development, to treat dry AMD, geography atrophy, wet AMD, and DME.