Mind & Body · Friday, 18 September 2026

01 Briefing what happened

Nearly everyone carries the virus behind glandular fever, and in multiple sclerosis the immune cells hunting it also attack the coating on the nerves

Multiple sclerosis almost never happens without an earlier Epstein-Barr infection. New studies show how the virus points the immune system at the coating of the nerves, and why some researchers now want antivirals tested.

32x

higher risk of MS after catching the Epstein-Barr virus

found by following 10 million US military personnel for 20 years [5]

1 in 1,000

of people who catch the virus go on to develop MS

usually 5 to 10 years after the infection [7]

as many virus-targeting helper T cells in people with MS as in people without it

30 people in each group, in a study published in July 2026 [1]

3 months

how long before an MS relapse the signs of the virus waking up appeared

seen in B cells in repeated blood samples [10]

The lead story — what happened

Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is an illness in which the immune system attacks myelin. Myelin is the fatty coating around nerves in the brain and spinal cord, and without it signals travel badly. [1][2]
MS affects more than 2.8 million people worldwide. It is the leading cause of neurological disability in adults aged 18 to 40. [3]
The Epstein-Barr virus causes glandular fever, also called mono. More than 95% of people catch it, and it then hides for life inside B cells, the immune cells that make antibodies. [4][1]
A 2022 study followed 10 million people in the US military for 20 years. Among the 955 who developed MS, the risk had risen 32-fold after they caught the virus. [5]
Nearly all people with MS, 99.9%, carry signs of a past infection, and the risk in people who never caught it is close to zero. [6] Still, only about one infected person in 1,000 gets MS, usually 5 to 10 years after infection. [7]
The first way the virus may do it is look-alike parts. A 47-piece stretch of a virus protein called EBNA1 matches parts of three proteins in the brain, so antibodies made against the virus can hit them too. [4]
Two papers in the journal Cell in 2026 found more of this. B cells infected with the virus display pieces of myelin on their surface, which switches on T cells that then enter the brain and cause inflammation there. [7]
The same papers found immune T cells that react to both the virus and a brain protein called anoctamin-2. These double-reacting cells were more common in people with MS. [7]
The virus can also keep harmful cells alive. In lab animals, a virus protein called LMP1 let B cells that react against myelin escape the death that normally removes them, and they went on to strip myelin. [7]
A team led from Stanford University found the virus directly infects B cells that target the brain and turns them into cells that rouse other immune cells. That work is a preprint, not yet checked by other scientists. [8]
A Harvard-led study in July 2026 looked at helper T cells in 30 people with MS. Most targeted virus proteins made while the virus is actively copying itself, and there were twice as many as in 30 people without MS. [9][1]
Drugs that remove B cells cut that T-cell response almost to healthy levels in 60 people. They also cleared the virus from saliva in most, which suggests these drugs work partly by emptying the virus's hiding place. [6][1]
Signs of the virus waking up in B cells appeared up to three months before an MS relapse, in a 2026 study that followed patients' blood over time. [10] People at their very first MS symptoms carried more double-stranded RNA, a mark of viruses copying, than healthy people. [11]
Most MS drugs weaken the immune system, and some are linked to the virus waking up again. A review asks whether that could make MS worse, while drugs that remove B cells may shrink the virus's hiding place. [3]
An Australian trial called STOP-MS is now testing famciclovir, an antiviral, and spironolactone, a heart and blood-pressure drug that also blocks the virus copying itself, in people with progressive MS. Its first patient joined in April 2025. [12]
Vaccines against the virus are in development. One Harvard researcher points out that about 1,000 people would need vaccinating to prevent one case of MS. [1]

Who is involved

The Epstein-Barr virus

a herpes virus that causes glandular fever and stays in the body for life; the virus most consistently linked to MS [4][2]
Kjetil Bjornevik

an epidemiologist at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; a lead author of the July 2026 study [9]
Michael Levy

a researcher at Harvard Medical School; says antivirals could become the most useful specific treatment for MS [1]
STOP-MS

an Australian trial of two existing drugs against the virus in people with progressive MS [12]

How it unfolded

1964 British scientists isolate the virus from lymphoma cells [4]
2022 A study of 10 million US military personnel finds MS risk rises 32-fold after infection [5]
April 2025 The STOP-MS antiviral trial enrols its first patient in Australia [12]
2026 Two papers in Cell show infected B cells displaying myelin pieces, and T cells that react to both the virus and a brain protein [7]
July 2026 A Harvard-led study links MS to T cells aimed at the actively copying virus [9]

Where this points

The next test is STOP-MS. Its first stage asks whether two existing drugs lower the virus in 150 people, and only a drop of at least 10% moves it on to testing disability. [12]

What is pushing on the whole day

The bar and the word are our reading of how hard each one is pushing today. The arrow is where it is heading. The evidence is in the stories below.

Immune cells hitting the body High→

In lupus, B cells make antibodies against the body's own organs, and removing them with altered immune cells put patients into remission. [13] In vitiligo, T cells that stay in the skin destroy the cells that make skin colour. [14] In Crohn's disease, helper T cells driving the wrong immune response inflame the whole wall of the gut. [15]

New treatments kept for last Building↑

Lupus doctors argue that altered immune-cell therapy is given so late that scarred kidneys hide how well it works. [16] In a UAE study of a Crohn's drug, remission reached 69.6% in people new to such drugs and 32.4% in those who had tried others. [17] Deep brain stimulation for Tourette syndrome is used only in severe cases. [18]

Drugs tested in ordinary clinics Building↑

Nineteen UK hospitals reported how 312 people with Crohn's disease did on a newer pill. [19] A Colombian clinic found fewer than half of its thyroid patients were still taking their tablets after a year. [20] A two-centre study followed 74 people with colitis on mirikizumab outside a trial. [21]

Sorting people by risk Building↑

In a UK study, family history rules caught 4.4% of breast cancers in women under 50. [22] A UK Biobank tool ranked 200,000 overweight adults by their chance of obesity-related illness. [23] A blood test company reported finding seven times more cancers when its test was added to usual screening. [24]

The rest of the day

35 more stories on this beat.

Each with its own sources. None of these is a link to the story above.

02
Altered immune cells put lupus into remission

Lupus is an illness in which the immune system attacks the body's own organs, often the kidneys. CAR T-cell therapy changes a patient's immune cells in a lab to hunt down B cells. In the CARLYSLE trial at University College London Hospitals, five of the first six people on the lower dose reached remission. [13] B cells that grew back months later were mostly young cells, not the kind linked to lupus. [13] At Cleveland Clinic, a woman treated in May 2025 has been in remission with no drugs for more than a year. [25]

Why it matters — Lupus has usually meant lifelong drugs that weaken the immune system. A one-off treatment that ends them would change that, but only if the remissions last longer than the year or two seen so far.
03
Donor cells tried in three people with lupus

Making CAR T cells from each patient's own blood is costly, and the illness can worsen while the cells are made. [26] A team in China instead used cells from a healthy donor, altered to target B cells, in three people with severe lupus affecting several organs. [26] None developed graft-versus-host disease, where donor cells attack the patient, or the dangerous inflammation CAR T cells can cause. [26] The cells removed B cells, antibodies against the body fell, and all three reached remission on a standard lupus score. [26]

Why it matters — Ready-made donor cells could make the treatment quicker and cheaper to give. Three patients is a very small start, and the same approach has to be tested in many more.
04
A lupus flare before treatment, and a year without drugs after

Before CAR T-cell therapy, patients usually stop their other lupus drugs so the altered cells can work. A 22-year-old woman in the US with lupus kidney disease had a severe flare during that gap: fever, rash and painful joints. [27] Doctors gave a short burst of high-dose steroids, which calmed it without stopping the new cells growing. [27] Twelve months after the infusion she was in remission with no drugs and back at full-time work. [27]

Why it matters — The pause before treatment is a risky gap for people whose lupus is already severe. This case shows one way through it, in one person.
05
Lupus doctors ask for this therapy sooner

Researchers at the University of North Carolina argue that CAR T-cell therapy for lupus is being kept as a last resort. [16] When it is given late, the kidneys may already be scarred, and that damage can remain even if the treatment works. [16] So a patient who does not improve may be showing old damage rather than a treatment that failed. [16] They propose trials in early severe lupus instead; the paper was accepted on 10 September 2026. [16]

Why it matters — Where a treatment sits in the queue changes what its results seem to show. Moving it earlier would also expose patients who might have done well on safer drugs to its risks.
06
Most CAR T trials for joint and immune diseases are early

A review counted 56 trials of CAR T-cell therapy in autoimmune rheumatic diseases, conditions like lupus where the immune system attacks joints and organs. [28] Of these, 64% were phase 1, the first safety step, and only 7% had reached phase 2. [28] China ran 48% of the trials and the US 34%, and only two were joint projects between the two countries. [28] A group of doctors, companies, regulators and patients has called for long-term tracking of everyone treated. [29]

Why it matters — Most of what is known comes from small, early studies in a few countries. How long remissions last will only show up if patients are followed for years.
07
Leftover virus DNA read from 735,000 genomes

Researchers used genome data from two huge health studies, the UK Biobank with 490,560 people and the US All of Us programme with 245,394. [30] They measured Epstein-Barr virus DNA left in blood samples, and found it in 11.9% of the All of Us group. [30] Carrying it was linked to rheumatoid arthritis, lung disease and lupus, but a link with MS did not hold up after statistical checks. [30] Genes that control how cells show virus pieces to the immune system shaped how much virus stayed. [30]

Why it matters — It shows a person's genes help decide how well they keep the virus quiet. It also shows the link to MS does not appear in every kind of measurement.
08
Infections may set off autoimmune flares

A review looked at why autoimmune illnesses flare suddenly. Flares often come with surges of plasmablasts, short-lived cells that pour out antibodies. [31] Three kinds of trigger keep appearing: sleeping herpes viruses waking up, including Epstein-Barr and the chickenpox virus; chest or gut infections, including COVID; and imbalanced gut bacteria. [31] These all act through the same alarm sensors on immune cells. [31]

Why it matters — It links flares in lupus, arthritis and MS to ordinary infections. It is a review of existing evidence, so it points to a pattern rather than proving a cause.
09
Vitamin D, iron and the virus in MS

A review proposes a common thread between two known MS risks: the Epstein-Barr virus and low vitamin D. [32] Both raise hepcidin, a hormone that blocks the body taking in iron. [32] Older studies suggested iron builds up in the brain in MS, but newer work suggests it is actually low in deep brain areas. [32] That could starve the cells that make myelin, which need iron for energy. [32]

Why it matters — If it holds, iron levels could matter in MS care. For now it is an idea built from other studies, and no trial has tested it.
10
A two-drug combination for gut disease missed its goal

Inflammatory bowel disease covers Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, long-term inflammation of the gut. Johnson & Johnson, the US drug company, tested two of its drugs together in two mid-stage trials. [33] The combination did better than either drug alone but missed its main target of remission, in results presented on 5 May 2026. [33] A 2022 trial had nearly doubled remission rates, and the company is still moving into late-stage testing in one group of patients. [33]

Why it matters — Combining drugs was one of the field's big hopes for people whom single drugs fail. This result makes that hope smaller for now.
11
Crohn's drugs work better in the large bowel

Crohn's disease is inflammation that can appear anywhere in the gut. A review of 14 trials with 3,139 patients compared people whose disease sat only in the large bowel with those whose disease sat at the end of the small intestine. [34] Drugs beat placebo far more strongly in large-bowel disease. [34] One class of pills, JAK inhibitors, worked only in the large bowel and showed no benefit at the end of the small intestine. [34]

Why it matters — Where the disease sits may matter as much as which drug is picked. It also means trial results that mix both groups can hide a drug that fails in one of them.
12
79 trials of Crohn's drugs ranked

A network analysis, which compares treatments across many trials at once, pooled 79 trials with 20,724 people with Crohn's disease. [35] The strongest result came from adalimumab, an injected antibody, combined with a thiopurine, an older immune-calming pill. [35] For every three people treated with that pair, one more reached remission than on placebo. [35] Guselkumab and adalimumab alone needed about four people treated for one extra remission. [35]

Why it matters — Doctors choosing a first drug have few direct comparisons. A ranking like this helps, though the trials lasted only 2 to 30 weeks. [35]
13
A Crohn's pill in 19 UK hospitals

Upadacitinib is the first pill of its kind approved for Crohn's disease, cleared by England's health technology body NICE in 2023. [19] Nineteen UK hospitals reported on 312 patients, 64% of whom had already failed three or more injected drugs. [19] Half reached remission by 12 weeks and 45% by 24 weeks. [19] Serious side effects affected 18%. [19]

Why it matters — These were some of the hardest cases in UK care, not trial volunteers. Half reaching remission in that group is the kind of result a trial cannot show.
14
The same Crohn's drug, earlier and later

Risankizumab is an injected drug that blocks one immune signal in Crohn's disease. In 60 patients in the United Arab Emirates, 69.6% of those who had never had such drugs reached remission after the first doses, against 32.4% of those who had. [17] In 49 patients in Taiwan, 42.9% reached remission by week 12. [36] There the gap between earlier and later users was not statistically clear. [36]

Why it matters — Both groups are outside the trials that won the drug its approval. The UAE result shows the same drug doing about half as well when it comes later.
15
Two years on mirikizumab for Crohn's

Mirikizumab blocks an immune signal called interleukin-23. In the VIVID-2 study, 430 people with Crohn's disease kept taking it for a second year after a one-year trial. [37] At two years, 73.4% were in remission on a standard symptom score. [37] Most people who had responded at one year still had at two. [37] In the second year, 7.7% had a serious side effect. [37]

Why it matters — Crohn's disease lasts for decades, and trials usually stop at one year. Two-year results like these are part of what patients and doctors need to judge a drug.
16
A colitis drug that did not mind coming later

Ulcerative colitis is long-term inflammation of the large bowel. Two hospitals followed 74 adults who started mirikizumab outside a trial, and 93% had already tried other advanced drugs. [21] Overall, 70.3% had responded and 17.6% were in remission. [21] Results were about the same whether or not people had tried other drugs first. [21]

Why it matters — It is a counter-example to the pattern in the Crohn's studies. Coming later does not always mean doing worse.
17
Drug-versus-placebo trials misjudge head-to-head results

Few trials test two gut-disease drugs directly against each other. French researchers compared three head-to-head trials with what earlier placebo trials had predicted. [38] Placebo trials suggested vedolizumab would beat adalimumab by 17.3 points in colitis, but the direct trial found 8.8. [38] In Crohn's, placebo trials suggested adalimumab would beat ustekinumab, and the direct trial found the two drugs about equal at 52 weeks. [38]

Why it matters — Doctors often choose between drugs using indirect comparisons. This study shows those comparisons can be wrong in both size and direction.
18
Thyroid readings rise with age

Thyroid-stimulating hormone, or TSH, is the brain's signal telling the thyroid to work harder, and a high reading is used to label the thyroid underactive. In 1,626 people aged 65 to 84 in Japan's Bunkyo Health Study, TSH rose with age. [39] Mildly raised readings were not linked to any of the health problems of old age that were checked. [39] In the TRUST trial of 737 people over 65 with mildly raised readings, a year of thyroid tablets did not improve tiredness or symptoms. [40]

Why it matters — Many older people may be labelled with an underactive thyroid for a normal change of ageing. Treating them adds a daily tablet without clear benefit.
19
Many on thyroid tablets sit above normal levels

Levothyroxine is the tablet that replaces thyroid hormone. Researchers in England used one city's records to compare 47,869 people taking it with 393,101 people not taking it, over 14 years of blood tests. [41] Even at the lowest doses, treated people had higher thyroid hormone levels than untreated people, and many had TSH readings pushed very low. [41] Too much replacement hormone in older people is linked to irregular heartbeat and bone loss. [40]

Why it matters — A tablet dose judged on one number may leave many people over-replaced. That matters most for older people, whose bones and hearts carry the risk.
20
Fewer than half kept taking thyroid tablets

Researchers in Colombia reviewed the records of 398 people prescribed levothyroxine and followed each for at least a year. [20] At the first blood check, 52% were not at their target level. [20] Only 36.4% had a second check, and fewer than half were still taking their tablets after a year. [20]

Why it matters — A tablet only helps if it is taken and checked. In 31.7% of cases, doctors did not change a dose that had missed its target. [20]
21
A new kind of Tourette drug held tics down

Tourette syndrome causes tics, sudden movements or sounds, usually starting between ages 3 and 8. [42] Ecopipam blocks one type of receptor for dopamine, a brain chemical. In a trial at 77 sites in 12 countries, 216 people took it, and those who improved were then switched at random to ecopipam or a dummy pill. [42] Children who stayed on ecopipam had about half the risk of their tics coming back. [42] Sleepiness affected 11%, and weight was not affected. [42]

Why it matters — Current Tourette drugs are often stopped because of side effects. [42] The adult group was too small to show a clear result.
22
Online tic therapy tested in the UK

Behavioural therapy teaches people with tics to notice the urge that comes before one and respond differently. A UK review pooled two trials with 445 participants, comparing online therapy with online education alone. [43] Tic scores were lower with therapy at 3 and at 12 months. [43] A wrist device called Neupulse was tested for only four weeks. [43]

Why it matters — The review could not settle whether the online therapy is good value for England's health service, because long-term data are thin. The chance it was good value ranged from 52% to 89%. [43]
23
Mapping where brain stimulation eases tics

Deep brain stimulation places wires in the brain that send steady electrical pulses, and it is used only in severe Tourette syndrome. [18] Doctors at 12 centres pooled 115 patients stimulated in three different brain areas. [18] The best results lined up along three bundles of nerve fibres linking two deep brain regions. [18] That pattern explained about a fifth of the difference between patients. [18]

Why it matters — Surgeons could aim more precisely. Most of the difference between patients is still unexplained, and patients were followed for a median of six months.
24
Two children on cannabis medicine for tics

Cannabis-based medicine is recommended for adults with Tourette syndrome when other treatments fail, but evidence in children is very limited. [44] Doctors described two boys who started it at ages 8 and 12 and were followed for five and six years. [44] Both had lasting improvement in tics, without severe side effects or harm to school performance. [44]

Why it matters — It is two cases, so it cannot show the medicine works or is safe for other children. The authors suggest it be considered before brain surgery in severe cases.
25
Vitiligo and the T cells that stay in the skin

Vitiligo causes white patches where skin loses its colour, and it affects about 0.36% of people worldwide. [14] The colour-making cells are destroyed by immune T cells that settle in the skin and stay there. [14] Ruxolitinib cream blocks a signalling route those immune cells use. [45] It was the first cream approved for vitiligo, for people over 12 with patches on the face. [45]

Why it matters — The attack also harms the stem cells that could replace lost colour cells. [14] Treatment aims to stop the patches spreading, bring colour back, and then keep it. [14]
26
A hair-loss cream passed two late-stage trials

Cosmo Pharmaceuticals, a Dublin-based drug company, tested a cream called clascoterone in men with common male-pattern hair loss. [46] After six months, men on the cream had 168% more hair than the placebo group in one trial and 539% more in the other. [46] Experts were underwhelmed by the data, and the company planned to seek approval in the US and Europe after gathering a full year of safety results. [46]

Why it matters — Large percentages can describe small gains when the starting number is low. The full data will show how much hair people actually regrow.
27
What shrinks hair in pattern baldness

In pattern baldness, a hormone called DHT, made from testosterone, shrinks hair follicles until they grow only fine, short hairs. [47] By age 70 it affects about 80% of white men and nearly half of white women, and about half of men in Korea. [47] Minoxidil and finasteride are the most used treatments, and both have to be used long-term. [47]

Why it matters — Because the shrinking carries on, the two main treatments depend on long-term use. Their side effects and inconvenience have pushed interest in other options. [47]
28
Stem cells and blood injections for thinning hair

A review of newer treatments found platelet-rich plasma, made from a person's own blood and injected into the scalp, is the most studied. [48] Its studies are short and describe what was injected inconsistently. [48] In a separate randomised trial, 33 women with female-pattern hair loss had stem cells from their own fat injected into the scalp, and hair count and thickness improved at 12 and 24 weeks. [49]

Why it matters — The review calls for standard methods and clearer reporting before firm claims are made. [48] The stem-cell trial had 33 women and six months of results.
29
A saw palmetto trial in 60 people

Saw palmetto is a plant extract sold for thinning hair. A six-month trial gave 40 adults an extract and 20 a dummy pill. [50] Hair counts rose by an average of 18.6 hairs in the extract group and fell by 10.1 in the placebo group. [50] The study was written by one doctor who runs a private skin clinic in California, and she declared no conflicts. [50]

Why it matters — The result is reported as a 283% greater improvement, which sounds bigger than a difference of about 29 hairs in the patch counted. The trial was small and short. [50]
30
Younger men are having hair transplants

The International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery found 95% of its members' patients were aged 20 to 35 when they sought surgery. [51] A UK hair surgeon told the BBC that social media and dating apps have made men more aware of their looks. [51] More UK men now travel abroad, to countries like Turkey, where the surgeon says transplants cost a fraction of UK prices. [51]

Why it matters — Pattern baldness keeps going after a transplant, so a young man may need more surgery later. One consultant told the BBC reporter his hair could recede further after the procedure. [51]
31
Common food preservatives linked to type 2 diabetes

NutriNet-Sante is a French study that has followed 108,723 adults since 2009 through repeated food diaries. [52] Of 17 widely eaten preservatives, 12 were linked to a higher chance of developing type 2 diabetes, including potassium sorbate, sodium nitrite and citric acid. [52] In total 1,131 people developed diabetes. [52] The authors call for the safety of these additives to be looked at again. [52]

Why it matters — Each of the 17 preservatives studied was eaten by at least a tenth of the group. [52] This kind of study shows a link, not that the additives cause diabetes.
32
A cancer blood test found more cancers, and missed most

GRAIL, a US company, sells a blood test called Galleri that looks for signs of many cancers at once. In its PATHFINDER 2 study of adults over 50, adding the test to usual screening found seven times more cancers within a year. [24] Of 216 people with a positive result, 133 had cancer. [24] Across all cancers, the test caught 40.4% of those found within a year. [24] These figures come from the company's own announcement. [24]

Why it matters — About three-quarters of the cancers the test found have no routine screening. [24] It still missed about six in ten of all cancers found within the year.
33
Family history rules miss most young women's breast cancers

In the UK, NICE guidance sends women for extra breast screening mainly because of family history. [22] Researchers tested this on 1,258 women under 50 from the UK Generations Study. [22] The family history rules picked out 1.4% of women and caught 4.4% of cancers within 10 years. [22] A model called BOADICEA, which adds genes, lifestyle and reproductive history, caught up to 35% but flagged 26.5% of women. [22]

Why it matters — Better risk models find more women who will get cancer. They also send many more women for extra tests who will not.
34
Ranking who most needs weight-loss drugs

New weight-loss drugs work in trials, but there is no agreed way to pick who should get them first. [23] Researchers used the UK Biobank to build a risk score from about 200,000 adults with a body mass index above 27. [23] It predicts 18 illnesses linked to obesity, and the ten-year risk of dying from heart disease ranged from 5.7% in the top group to 0.1% in the bottom. [23] In a trial of tirzepatide, a weight-loss drug, people lost similar weight in every risk group. [23]

Why it matters — A score like this could decide who is treated first. The researchers also checked it in groups of European and non-European ancestry. [23]
35
What drives high blood pressure in 1 million Japanese adults

Researchers followed 1,069,948 Japanese adults without high blood pressure for a median of 3.6 years, and 116,690 developed it. [53] Obesity accounted for the largest share of new cases that could be changed, 6.36%. [53] Sleep disorders came next at 4.11%, then smoking at 3.39%. [53] Obesity's share was 15.1% in people under 40 and 3.7% in those over 65. [53]

Why it matters — The factors that can be changed mattered most in younger adults and in men, the authors found. [53]
36
Twenty years of deaths in north-east Germany

The Study of Health in Pomerania has followed 3,803 adults in north-east Germany since 1997-2001. [54] Over a median of 20 years, 1,029 died. [54] In men, type 2 diabetes, living without a partner and smoking each raised the risk of death by more than 70%. [54] In women, only diabetes and a blood marker of inflammation stood out. [54]

Why it matters — Living alone mattered for men and not for women in this group. The study shows links, not causes.

02 Lesson why it matters

A treatment kept for last is judged on the people hardest to help

New treatments are first given to people every older one has failed, so their early results partly reflect damage that was already there.

The twist

When a new treatment is given only after everything else has failed, its first results partly measure the damage already done, not only the treatment.

How it works

A new treatment is first given only to people whom the older treatments failed
Those people have usually been ill the longest
Some of their damage, like scarred kidneys, may stay whatever the new drug does
So the new treatment is measured on the people it has the least chance to help
Its results look smaller, and small results keep it at the back of the queue

The same force, elsewhere today

Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

Lupus doctors asking for CAR T cells sooner

The therapy is kept as a last resort, so patients reach it with kidneys already scarred, and a poor result can reflect that old damage.
The same Crohn's drug, earlier and later

In the UAE, risankizumab brought remission to 69.6% of people trying their first such drug and 32.4% of those who had already tried others.
A Crohn's pill in 19 UK hospitals

Most of the 312 patients had already failed three or more drugs, so the pill was judged on the hardest cases in UK care.
Mapping where brain stimulation eases tics

Brain surgery is kept for the most severe Tourette syndrome, so what is learned about it comes only from people other treatments did not help.

Where you've seen this

Schools

a new teaching method tried only on the class every other teacher gave up on looks weaker than it is

Football clubs

a manager hired only when a team is already bottom of the league is judged on a season that was mostly lost

Firefighting

a new crew called only after the building is gutted cannot show what it would have saved earlier

The catch

Coming later does not always mean doing worse: mirikizumab helped colitis patients about equally whether or not they had tried other drugs. And a risky treatment given early also reaches people who would have done well on safer ones.

And the whole of it

Patients, doctors, drug companies and regulators each decide one step in that queue, and none of them sets the whole order. Anyone who reads that a new drug helped half its patients is reading about people who came to it late, and that number may change when people get it earlier.

03 Truth what's really going on

What is really going on

Most MS researchers now agree the Epstein-Barr virus plays a major role in multiple sclerosis, and several 2026 studies show how it points immune cells at myelin. Yet nearly every MS drug still works by weakening the immune system, and Australia's STOP-MS trial, aimed at the virus itself, only enrolled its first patient in April 2025. [1][3][12]

Why it works on us — A single patient back at work after one infusion is easier to remember than a trial of a few people with a year of follow-up, so early cell-therapy results can feel more settled than they are. [27][28]

Who gains

Makers of B-cell-removing MS drugs — If these drugs also empty the virus's hiding place, as the July 2026 study suggests, that gives them a second reason to be chosen over drugs that weaken other immune cells. [1][3]
Companies developing CAR T-cell therapy for lupus — Doctors are now arguing for the therapy earlier in the illness, which would open it to many more patients than a last-resort treatment. [16]
Cosmo Pharmaceuticals — Two successful late-stage trials let it seek approval to sell clascoterone for hair loss in the US and Europe. [46]
GRAIL — A company announcement of seven times more cancers found supports its case for adding the Galleri test to screening. [24]
Private hair-transplant clinics, including those abroad — Most patients now seek surgery between 20 and 35, and many UK men travel to countries like Turkey for lower prices. [51]

Who pays

People with MS on drugs that weaken the immune system — Some widely used MS drugs are linked to serious infections and to the virus waking up again. [3]
Lupus patients waiting for cell therapy — They must first stop their other drugs, and one woman had a severe flare during that pause. [27]
People who try new Crohn's drugs late — In the UAE study, remission after first doses was 32.4% for them against 69.6% for people new to such drugs. [17]
Older people on thyroid tablets — Many treated people have hormone levels above those of untreated people, and too much replacement hormone is linked to irregular heartbeat and bone loss. [41][40]
Young men worried about hair loss — A consultant told a young BBC reporter his hair could recede further after a transplant, meaning more surgery later. [51]

What nobody knows yet

Open questions from across today’s stories — ours included.

01

Whether drugs against the Epstein-Barr virus slow MS at all.

STOP-MS has not reported. It first has to show a 10% fall in virus levels in 150 people before it even tests disability. [12] There are no good Epstein-Barr drugs yet, a Harvard researcher says. [1]
02

Why only about one infected person in 1,000 gets MS.

Genes such as HLA-DR15 raise the risk, and vitamin D and iron have been proposed, but no study has yet explained why most infected people never get MS. [7][32]
03

How long lupus remissions after CAR T-cell therapy last.

The longest drug-free remissions described today run a little over a year, and 64% of the 56 trials counted are still at the first safety stage. [25][28] The virus could also reinfect regrowing B cells over the years, one researcher warns. [1]
04

Whether CAR T-cell therapy would work better if given earlier.

The case rests on the argument that late use hides the effect, and no trial has yet tested it in early severe lupus. [16]
05

How much hair clascoterone really regrows.

The company reported 168% and 539% more hair than placebo, and experts called the data underwhelming. Full results and a year of safety data were still to come. [46]
06

Whether preservatives cause type 2 diabetes or only travel with other habits.

The French study found links for 12 preservatives but cannot rule out that people eating more of them also differ in other ways. [52]
07

Whether the Galleri blood test saves lives.

The figures come from the company's own announcement and cover 12 months of follow-up; the test caught 40.4% of all cancers found in that time. [24]
08

Which thyroid reading should count as underactive in older people.

TSH rises with age, and a year of treatment for mildly raised readings did not help symptoms, but there is no agreed age-adjusted range. [39][40]

04 Hope carry this

A 22-year-old woman's lupus had damaged her kidneys and resisted several drugs. A year after one infusion of altered immune cells, she was in remission with no medicines and back at full-time work.

Also true today

At Cleveland Clinic, a woman who had lived with lupus since high school has been in remission with no drugs for more than a year after the same kind of treatment.
In a trial across 12 countries, children with Tourette syndrome who stayed on a new drug called ecopipam had about half the risk of their tics returning, and their weight did not change.
In 19 UK hospitals, half of 312 people with hard-to-treat Crohn's disease were in remission within 12 weeks on a newer pill, though most had already failed three or more drugs.