After a painful 2020 and 2021, reigned by the dreaded COVID-19 pandemic, 2022 was a relatively good year for the Indian population. But like no good things are permanent, this year is also witnessing a culmination. And what we can do is bid adieu to it with some honour for the astonishing developments it brought to the field of medical science. From developing vaccines to reversing death, scientists have made wonderful breakthroughs this year that you must know.

Development of Malaria & Flu Vaccine

In September 2022, scientists at Oxford University developed the R21/Matrix-M vaccine that can help fight Malaria effectively. The trial was conducted in Burkina Faso where three doses of the vaccine and a booster shot, injected in 450 children, were found 80% effective in preventing Malaria. It is believed that this vaccine is the outcome of an effort to take on one of the world’s leading causes of child mortality. 

In November 2022, experiments gave birth to a flu vaccine that uses mRNA technology, the same that was used to fight COVID-19. This vaccine is believed to increase a patient’s immune protection, thereby reducing the effect of seasonal flu.

Miraculous Cancer Treatments

It’s good to say that in the year 2022, for the first time, witnessed a cancer cure treatment. In 18 rectal-cancer patients who were subjected to novel immunotherapy, the disease completely vanished. This year also witnessed the creation of a new metastatic-breast-cancer drug, which at its trial stage, produced similar results.

Scientists in 2022 also developed a monoclonal antibody treatment that at its trial targeted and destroyed tumour cells comprising the protein HER2 (accelerates the growth of breast cancer cells) to extend the lives of patients by 6 months. It was also this year that a lung cancer pill developed by Amgen Inc targeted the genetic mutation KRAS, which is commonly associated with various cancers and was believed to be undruggable.

Birth Of Embryo Without Sperm & Egg

You heard it right, and it’s definitely unbelievable. However, a team of scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel developed an embryo in the lab using only stem cells. The embryo was of a rat and by day six it budded a tail, by day eight a beating heart and then a brain. It is considered one of the most important scientific discoveries of 2022 but scientists are no way closer to turning stem cells into human babies. But if things going on at this pace, we can be pretty optimistic about it.

Obesity Reducing Medication

This links back to the 2010s when scientists observed that diabetics who were on semaglutide were losing a lot of weight. And on June 4, 2021, FDA eventually approved injectable semaglutide under the new name Wegovy for chronic weight management in obese adults. Wegovy regulates the release of insulin and slows down how fast the stomach empties. Similarly, another weight-loss medication, tirzepatide, came into the limelight by displaying the capability of reducing 20% of patients’ body weight in the clinical trial. American multinational biopharmaceutical company Amgen is also working on a medication called AMG-133. In the Phase 1 trials, patients who received the highest dose of AMG-133 showed a 14% reduction in body weight in less than 3 months.

Lab-Grown Chicken. Delicious?

Reads funny but it’s 100% true. The Californian company Upside Foods was given a green flag by FDA to produce lab-grown chicken. Though the company is yet to get a nod from other departments before it engages in producing chickens in the laboratory. This would be a wonderful breakthrough as statistics say that out of the 80 billion land animals that are raised to be slaughtered for human consumption, 70 billion go to chickens.

Scientists Reverse Death

Oh yes! It’s time to be invincible once again. Researchers at Yale University conducted a trial in which they connected a system called OrganEx to pigs which had been dead for an hour. The system pumped a blood substitute containing animals’ blood and anticoagulants into the veins and arteries of those deceased pigs. The substance not only slowed decomposition but also restored the functioning of the heart, liver and kidneys.

All these developments in the field of medical science throw light on how aggressively researchers and scientists are moving ahead in making this world a secure place to live in. Though many of these are in the trial stages or awaiting departmental nod for actuation but once initiated these developments would be induced in society in no time. What we need to look for is what 2023 has in store for us.