FDA Approves First CRISPR Treatment in U.S. – The Medical Futurist Newsletter

We finally start seeing clinical applications Google stepped into the spotlight [with the announcement of Gemini]( its new multimodal generative AI model. Touted as "a new breed of AI" by Demis Hassabis, Gemini has already stirred curiosity and anticipation, though its availability remains limited, with users in the EU and UK still waiting for access. In a significant breach of privacy, hackers gained access to the DNA relatives data of [6.9 million users on 23andMe]( posing serious questions about the security measures in place for our most personal data. Meanwhile, Neuralink, the brain-computer interface company, faced disturbing reports about its clinical trials. Allegedly, up to a dozen monkeys suffered severe adverse effects, including brain swelling and partial paralysis, after being implanted with the Neuralink device. I hope you will find the newsletter useful! Best regards, Berci Bertalan Meskó, PhD The Medical Futurist [THE STATE OF CRISPR CLINICAL TRIALS AND THEIR FUTURE POTENTIALS]( --------------------------------------------------------------- CRISPR technology has progressed significantly in clinical trials, showing promising results, particularly in treating advanced cancers and genetic disorders like thalassemia and sickle cell disease Despite some trials being terminated, ongoing research continues to explore the safety and efficacy of CRISPR-based therapies, indicating a strong future potential in healthcare. [READ MORE]( WHY DO I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT? By taking the [US Clinical Trials registry]( as an example, we consider listed clinical trials that involve CRISPR technology as of late November 2023. Such an undertaking can provide a better appreciation of the state of CRISPR potential, as well as practical use cases that we can expect in the coming years.. [GOOGLE SAYS NEW AI MODEL GEMINI OUTPERFORMS CHATGPT IN MOST TESTS]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, Google launched its own ChatGPT called Gemini. It's unavailable in the EU or the UK yet, so we'll need to wait to lay our hands on it. Google claims that it outperforms ChatGPT. It is their most powerful AI model yet, it is multimodal: can take inputs in text, code, audio, image and video. It will be integrated soon into Google search. As I always say generative will be the interface for us to interact with AI. [READ MORE]( WHY DO I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT? The model comes in three versions, Google said Ultra was the first AI model to outperform human experts, with a score of 90%, on a multitasking test called MMLU, which covers 57 subjects including maths, physics, law, medicine and ethics. [INTRODUCTION TO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN MEDICINE AND HEALTHCARE]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Comfortably working with AI and having a scientific understanding of it is becoming a must-have skill in medicine. You don't need to become a deep-learning expert, but having a general overview will keep you up-to-date. We designed this course to prepare you to make the most of this revolution. You won't design neural networks, but will grasp what AI is (and isn't) good for, when to use it, when to trust it, when is it safe, and when dangerous. Come as you are, and test the first lessons for free. [ENROLL HERE]( [STUDY: GOOGLE REVEALS LLM THAT HELPS ACCURATELY DIAGNOSE COMPLEX CASES]( --------------------------------------------------------------- A study conducted by Google's research team and DeepMind (well, an independent study would have been better though) concluded that their largel language model "can provide an accurate differential diagnosis and help improve clinicians' diagnostic reasoning and accuracy in diagnosing complex medical conditions". "In the study, 20 clinicians evaluated 302 challenging, real-world medical cases. (...) Each case was read by two clinicians who were randomly provided either standard assistance methods, such as search engines and traditional medical resources, or standard assistance methods in addition to Google's LLM for DDx. (...) The performance of its LLM for DDx exceeded that of unassisted clinicians, with 59.1% accuracy compared to 33.6%." [READ MORE]( WHY IT'S IMPORTANT? You can expect to see hundreds of similar studies, preferably from research teams that didn't take part in developing the tool in question. [TERRIBLE THINGS HAPPENED TO MONKEYS AFTER GETTING NEURALINK IMPLANTS, ACCORDING TO VETERINARY RECORDS]( --------------------------------------------------------------- "Documents viewed as part of a new investigation by Wired, however, as well as testimony from a former employee, contradict Musk's claims entirely — and the details are as upsetting as they are damning, adding to a mounting case against the safety of Neuralink's devices. Up to a dozen monkeys suffered grisly fates after receiving a Neuralink implant, including brain swelling and partial paralysis." [READ MORE]( WHY IT'S IMPORTANT? I understand the ambition of tech companies' leaders to enter the healthcare business, but innovating in healthcare is always more daunting than doing the same in ANY other industry. [AN AI DOCTOR IN A BOX COMING TO A MALL NEAR YOU]( --------------------------------------------------------------- "Aoun, who cofounded San Francisco-based health tech startup Forward in 2016 and today announced a fresh $100 million in funding to bring 25 of these pods to malls across the country, compares his healthcare approach to what Elon Musk is building at Tesla.". Here is what I don't understand: Why build very expensive kiosks with medical technologies inside (let's not even focus on regulating these for now to make the case simpler) when patients can obtain almost all of the data through the technologies they already own? [READ MORE]( WHY DO I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT? I don't understand the reason for the hype around these kiosks: this is not the way to make patients the point of care. [THE MOST OVERHYPED TECHNOLOGIES IN HEALTHCARE]( --------------------------------------------------------------- The hype about technological development in healthcare should not blind us in terms of the probabilities and possibilities of today’s healthcare and the future of medicine. To remain objective and conscious but still optimistic, let’s look at the most overhyped technologies and keep in mind the realistic development opportunities in healing. It’s easy to find mindblowing concepts, studies, results and promises in medicine every day. Optimism is great, but over-hype can actually damage viable, important endeavors. [READ MORE]( WHY DO I THINK IT'S IMPORTANT? The most important rule is if something sounds too good to be true in medicine, extreme caution and clear evidence are required before spreading the word about it since giving false hope is dangerous. MORE NEWS ABOUT THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE --------------------------------------------------------------- MEDITRON-70B – [Scaling Medical Pretraining For Large Language Models]( INSTANT SCREENING – [RadNet inks deal to open diagnostic imaging centers in multiple Walmart locations]( FANTASTIC PAPER – [Will Generative AI Deliver on Its Promise in Health Care?]( YOUR DATA – [NHS App enables more people access to their GP records online]( [color-forwardtofriend-48.png](mailto:berci@medicalfuturist.com) [color-facebook-48.png]( [color-youtube-48.png]( [color-linkedin-48.png]( [color-twitter-48.png]( [color-instagram-48.png]( © The Medical Futurist 2023 This email was sent to {EMAIL} [why did I get this?]( [unsubscribe from this list]( [update subscription preferences]( Medical Futurist · Budapest · Budapest, Pest 1118 · Hungary