Background: People with a stoma face many unique challenges. Leakage is a significant one but is not sufficiently discussed within the wider area of health and social care. Aims: This study aimed to articulate and achieve consensus on the problems experienced by people with a stoma, particularly leakage, in the hope of encouraging conversations among patients, clinicians and policymakers on how to solve them. Methods: Output from a modified Delphi panel, consisting of patient groups, was used to create a set of calls to action, with a particular focus on the issue of leakage. Findings: Leakage has a large impact on daily life and can cause both physical and mental health difficulties. Peer support and specialist care can be offer considerable benefits in dealing with these. Conclusions: There are significant unmet needs for equitable access to specialist stoma care and peer support, as well as information provision for non-specialist healthcare providers. The calls to action should be implemented.
Diseases of the central nervous system, which once occupied a large component of the pharmaceutical industry research and development portfolio, have for many years played a smaller part in major pharma pipelines—primarily due to the well cited challenges in target validation, valid translational models, and clinical trial design. Unfortunately, this decline in research and development interest has occurred in tandem with an increase in the medical need—in part driven by the success in treating other chronic diseases, which then results in a greater overall longevity along with a higher prevalence of diseases associated with ageing. The lead modality for drug agents targeting the brain remains the traditionally small molecule, despite potential in gene-based therapies and antibodies, particularly in the hugely anticipated anti-amyloid field, clearly driven by the additional challenge of effective distribution to the relevant brain compartments. However, in recognition of the growing disease burden, advanced therapies are being developed in tandem with improved delivery options. Hence, methodologies which were initially restricted to systemic indications are now being actively explored for a range of CNS diseases—an important class of which include the protein degradation technologies.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.