News Archive - Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

High R&D Isn’t Necessarily Why Drugs Are So Expensive

In the first known study of its type, an international team of researchers evaluated whether high research and development costs explain high drug prices in the United States. They found no such association for 60 new drugs approved from 2009 to 2018.

Tiny Swimming Robots Treat Deadly Pneumonia in Mice

UC San Diego engineers developed microrobots, that can swim around in the lungs, deliver medication and be used to clear up life-threatening cases of bacterial pneumonia. In mice, the microrobots safely eliminated pneumonia-causing bacteria in the lungs and resulted in 100% survival.

UC San Diego Receives $1.3M from W. M. Keck Foundation to Study Origins of Dementia

Researchers at the University of California San Diego have received a $1.3 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation for a project that could help scientists better understand the role misfolded tau proteins play in causing neurodegenerative diseases like dementia, which may lead to more effective

Best New Dean of Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Science

Brookie Best, PharmD, has been named the next dean of the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at University of California San Diego, succeeding James McKerrow, PhD, MD, who stepped down June 30, 2022.

Disparities in United States COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution

Health care facilities in Black metropolitan counties, Hispanic rural counties and hardest-hit counties were less likely to administer COVID-19 vaccines during initial rollout, UC San Diego study finds.

Awash in Potential: Wastewater Provides Early Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Virus

Scientists and physicians at UC San Diego and Scripps Research describe how wastewater sequencing provided dramatic new insights into levels and variants of SARS-CoV-2 on campus and in the broader community — a key step to public health interventions in advance of COVID-19 case surges.

‘You Are What You Eat,’ and Now Researchers Know Exactly What You’re Eating

UC San Diego researchers describe a new method to identify all of the unidentified molecules derived from food, providing a direct way to link molecules in diet to health outcomes.

With Roommates, It’s All About Chemistry, Molecularly Speaking

UC San Diego researchers describe how the microbiomes of people and the homes they live in interact and change each other.

Pharmacists at Higher Risk of Suicide than General Population, Study Finds

UC San Diego study shows suicide rates were higher in pharmacists than in the general population between 2003 and 2018, with job problems being the most significant feature associated with the suicides.

Scientists Discover How Molecule Becomes Anticancer Weapon

Years of toil in the laboratory have revealed how a marine bacterium makes a potent anti-cancer molecule. Researchers at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography found that an enzyme called SalC assembles what the team calls the salinosporamide anti-cancer “warhead.”