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The Good Signal

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Signals worth following

Browse our latest investigations, impact stories, and evidence-based progress updates.

TopicHealth
Health
•The Good Signal

The shingles vaccine is linked to less heart disease

On 26 August 2026 University of Oxford researchers reported in Nature Medicine that adults 60 and older who received the recombinant shingles vaccine (mostly Shingrix) had a 9% lower cardiovascular-disease burden over seven years than matched people who had just received the older live vaccine (mostly Zostavax). The print is 36,460 people in each arm. This is a natural experiment, not a randomized trial, and it is not a comparison with being unvaccinated.

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Health
•The Good Signal

A cancer cell therapy just took 3 people off arthritis drugs

On 27 August 2026 Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin reported in Nature Medicine the first prospective trial of a CD19 CAR T-cell therapy in rheumatoid arthritis. Six people with treatment-refractory, ACPA-positive disease received a single infusion of mivocabtagene autoleucel. Disease activity improved in all six. Three hit DAS28-CRP remission and an ACR70 response, and three were off all RA drugs at last follow-up. This is a six-person Phase 1, not a cure and not an approved RA treatment.

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Health
•The Good Signal

The FDA just approved a pancreatic cancer pill

On 26 August 2026 the FDA approved RASONQUE (daraxonrasib), a once-daily pill for adults with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma who already had systemic therapy or who cannot take multi-agent chemo. Tablets are in U.S. pharmacies now at a $39,800 wholesale acquisition cost for 30 days. The Phase 3 numbers — median overall survival 13.2 months versus 6.7 — were already in NEJM and at ASCO. This is not a cure, and it is not first-line for everyone.

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Health
•The Good Signal

WHO just declared Uganda Ebola-free

WHO and Africa CDC on 27 August 2026 welcomed the end of Uganda’s Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak after 42 days with no new confirmed case. Uganda recorded 20 cases, 18 recoveries and two deaths. The DRC outbreak continues, and there is still no approved vaccine for this species.

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Health
•The Good Signal

A personal mRNA vaccine just beat Keytruda alone

Merck and Moderna said on 19 August 2026 that adjuvant intismeran autogene plus Keytruda met recurrence-free and distant metastasis-free survival versus Keytruda alone in 1,137 patients with resected stage IIB–IV melanoma — the first positive Phase 3 for an individualized mRNA cancer therapy. Phase 3 hazard ratios are not public yet; overall survival is still maturing.

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Health
•The Good Signal

Burkina Faso’s malaria vaccine cut cases by a third

On 24 August 2026 Tedros told WHO’s African Regional Committee that malaria vaccines are in 25 countries and Burkina Faso cases have already fallen by nearly a third. National data Gavi published from a February 2026 briefing put 2025 cases at 7,329,278, down 32% from 10,805,020, and deaths at 1,979, down 44% from 3,523. That is not elimination, and it is not a vaccine-only result.

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