It was a tumultuous year in the world of health, marked by a resurgence of measles in Canada and budget cuts to research and science south of the border.<\/p>\n
But despite these troubling developments dominating the conversation, medical researchers and doctors working in labs, hospitals and universities around the world also pushed the envelope this year, spurring positive innovations and improving how patients receive care. <\/p>\n
Inspiring stories included breakthroughs in organ transplants, new treatments for women\u2019s health and the harnessing of artificial intelligence. The Globe and Mail spoke to five Canadian doctors and researchers about advances in their fields this past year \u2013 and what\u2019s still to come.<\/p>\n
Open this photo in gallery:<\/a>A new treatment to ease menopause symptoms<\/p>\n Wendy Wolfman, a gynecologist at Toronto\u2019s Mount Sinai Hospital, is heartened by new treatments available for menopausal women who experience hot flashes and night sweats \u2013 especially those who cannot, or choose not to, take hormone therapy.<\/p>\n Hot flashes, or vasomotor symptoms, involve the experience of sudden warmth on the upper body that can include perspiration and, at times, chills. <\/p>\n The symptoms can span years<\/a>, affecting women\u2019s well-being, including their ability to sleep. They\u2019ve also been linked<\/a> to a heightened risk for high blood pressure and other risk factors for cardiovascular health.<\/p>\n Gynecologists say hormone therapy is considered the most effective option for treating these symptoms, but it is not recommended for all patients, such as for most breast cancer survivors. <\/p>\n This October, a new non-hormonal drug, Lynkuet, was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration after it was shown to reduce the severity of the symptoms experienced by women and gender-diverse people in menopause.<\/p>\n Patients take the medication orally each day before bed.<\/p>\n The FDA\u2019s approval stemmed from data collected<\/a> in clinical trials, which examined the safety and efficacy of Lynkuet for the treatment of moderate to severe hot flashes. <\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Gynecologist Wendy Wolfman says hormonal therapy will still be the go-to treatment for menopause symptoms, but she’s glad to see other tools available.<\/p>\n On July 25, Health Canada authorized Lynkuet. <\/p>\n Lynkuet is the second product in the class of medications called NK-1 receptor antagonists. Another \u2013 Veozah \u2013 has been available in Canada since March<\/a>. It was approved by Health Canada last December. <\/p>\n Dr. Wolfman, the director of the Menopause Clinic<\/a> and the Premature Ovarian Insufficiency Clinic<\/a> at Mount Sinai, said, as mammals, humans\u2019 temperature needs to be kept within a narrow range. <\/p>\n Researchers believe hot flashes are caused because of dysfunction in the brain\u2019s temperature control centre that occurs when estrogen levels drop in menopause; the medications work by blocking receptors<\/a> in part of the brain.<\/p>\n \u201cWe still recommend hormone therapy as the first-line treatment for women who are symptomatic,\u201d said Dr. Wolfman, but that the new non-hormonal medications are \u201camazing additions\u201d to gynecologists\u2019 options.<\/p>\n \u2013 Kristy Kirkup<\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a>Animal organs help transplant patients<\/p>\n Nearly 600 Canadians are on the waiting list for a liver transplant each year, show the latest data \u2013 and some of them die before one becomes available. But now, there may be a way to safely bridge that gap.<\/p>\n This year, research from China involving a pig liver with altered DNA \u2013 through a process known as gene editing \u2013 has shown the mammal\u2019s organ can temporarily keep humans alive. <\/p>\n In March, an article<\/a> published in the research journal Nature detailed a groundbreaking procedure performed at Xijing hospital in Xi\u2019an, China, where a gene-edited pig liver functioned inside a brain-dead patient\u2019s body for 10 days. The surgery, called a xenotransplantation, marked the first time a pig liver had been put into a human.<\/p>\n Another study<\/a>, published in the Journal of Hepatology this October, described a further breakthrough: the transplantation of a pig liver into a living human. The man survived 171 days after the procedure, including 38 of those days with the animal organ, which was removed after he developed complications.<\/p>\n For Deepali Kumar, medical director of the Ajmera Transplant Centre in Toronto, the research gives her hope that many lives could be saved if xenotransplantations of this kind can be replicated in Canada.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are not enough organs for everyone who needs them. People wait for several months for a liver transplant. They get very, very sick while waiting. Some don\u2019t make it,\u201d explained Dr. Kumar. <\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Deepali Kumar says xenotransplantation could be a big help in Canada, where demand for human organs outstrips supply.<\/p>\n The Ajmera Transplant Centre, Canada\u2019s largest and affiliated with the University Health Network, performs over 600 transplants every year.<\/p>\n When Dr. Kumar saw the first study, she realized this was an opportunity to help all the Canadians on the waitlist: \u201cWe could use a pig liver to keep them alive.\u201d<\/p>\n Xenotransplantation has become a much-studied area of research in recent years, particularly as doctors look to see if animal-to-human transplants could help ease the shortage of donated human organs.<\/p>\n Until this point, pig hearts and kidneys had been transplanted into humans, with varying degrees of success. Earlier this year, Chinese scientists reported transplanting a gene-edited lung<\/a> from a pig into a brain-dead man.<\/p>\n Another transplant-related breakthrough that is becoming more common in Canada comes from human donors. <\/p>\n In a first for Canada<\/a>, in May, 2024, a heart that had ceased beating for five minutes from a patient who was not officially brain dead \u2013 called death by circulatory criteria, or DCC \u2013 was reanimated for transplantation in Kingston, Ont.<\/p>\n The procedure, which uses a device nicknamed \u201ca heart in a box\u201d to preserve and revive the organ, is already routine in other jurisdictions, including the United States. Another DCC transplant was performed this September at UHN\u2019s Toronto General Hospital.<\/p>\n Emerging research into the use of stem cells to repair and grow organs is another interesting area to watch, said Dr. Kumar. \u201cThe field is moving fast,\u201d she said. \u201cEvery year we have exciting new discoveries.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013 Alanna Smith<\/p>\n Moderna Inc.\u2019s vaccine-making facility in Laval, Que., made its debut this year, giving Canada more domestic capacity to deal with disease outbreaks.<\/p>\n Roger Lemoyne\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n ‘Manufacturing in Canada does help ensure access’ to vaccines, pharmacist Shelita Dattani says.<\/p>\n Homegrown COVID-19 vaccines<\/p>\n This fall, Canada marked an important milestone<\/a>: Drugmaker Moderna Inc. began producing COVID-19 shots here at home for the first time, at plants in Laval, Que., and Cambridge, Ont. <\/p>\n The move came a few months after the federal government terminated a contract with another U.S. drugmaker, Novavax Inc., that had also been part of a government-supported push to make domestic vaccines. The Novavax agreement was cancelled after the company missed a regulatory deadline in December, 2024.<\/p>\n In September, the federal government said <\/a>Moderna achieved a major milestone by producing the first made-in-Canada doses of its COVID-19 vaccine at its biomanufacturing facility in Laval.<\/p>\n It also called this a step forward in the government\u2019s efforts to build a domestic vaccine supply chain, which will strengthen Canada\u2019s ability to respond to public health emergencies. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored how Canada has been beholden to vaccine production in other countries.<\/p>\n Moderna\u2019s Laval facility is its first plant outside the U.S. The company has been working on building plants also in Britain and Australia.<\/p>\n Stefan Raos, the general manager for Moderna Canada, told The Globe in September that the company was happy to be making vaccines in Canada because it is a country where \u201cscience is at the forefront.\u201d<\/p>\n Shelita Dattani, a practising pharmacist on the executive committee of the Adult Vaccine Alliance, which advocates for access to inoculations, said that while she does not weigh in on specifics regarding any one manufacturer, she celebrates more domestic production.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always good to reduce reliance on global supply chains,\u201d she said, especially when geopolitics or other factors disrupt them. \u201cManufacturing in Canada does help ensure access.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013 Kristy Kirkup<\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a>AI does the paperwork<\/p>\n Artificial intelligence scribes, which record and generate notes during doctors\u2019 appointments, are the most widely implemented AI tool in health care. Even so, their use is still growing, and researchers say more than $1-billion in venture capital investments have been infused into the space in the last three years.<\/p>\n In 2025, almost 60 per cent of doctors said AI decreased the time they spent on administration<\/a>, according to the Canadian Medical Association\u2019s national survey. That\u2019s a considerable increase from 2024,<\/a> when 7 per cent reported using AI in their practice. <\/p>\n This fall, an article<\/a> published by the JAMA network underscored some early health care improvements that have been documented related to the use of AI scribes, including more sustained physician attention for patients and improved patient understanding of care plans.<\/p>\n The article also points out, however, that patients\u2019 feelings about the use of AI remains mixed, and it\u2019s unknown how the increasing \u201cbreadth and depth of AI use in clinical practice\u201d will change attitudes.<\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Kumanan Wilson at the University of Ottawa says the early response to AI scribes has been positive among doctors, but more study is needed.<\/p>\n Kumanan Wilson, a professor in the faculty of medicine at the University of Ottawa and a collaborator on the school\u2019s AI and the Law initiative, said AI scribes have mostly been used in primary care and have been shown to reduce time spent on documentation by about 30 minutes a day. <\/p>\n Dr. Wilson said more studies are still needed on the effectiveness and impact of AI scribes, but that doctors have reported satisfaction in the technology\u2019s early stages.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve heard, anecdotally, that people love it,\u201d Dr. Wilson said, explaining that physicians say the scribes work well to capture the essence of conversations with patients.<\/p>\n As the use of AI scribes continues to grow, he said it\u2019s important health care providers are vigilant about ensuring patients consent to their use. He said there are also outstanding issues to be discussed, including where data is held and who has access to it.<\/p>\n As well as taking notes, Dr. Wilson noted AI could be used to send prescriptions to patients, and remind them about appointments \u2013 and he\u2019ll be watching how the technology evolves.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to be cautious when we bring these things in, but it\u2019s an exciting potential application.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013 Kristy Kirkup<\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a>Hope for rare diseases<\/p>\n Canadian experts have made significant progress in quickly diagnosing thousands of rare genetic diseases, but there has been little hope for treating such conditions. At least until now.<\/p>\n Physician-scientist Gregory Costain, who leads Toronto\u2019s SickKids genetic medicine program, said a medical breakthrough in the United States offers a blueprint for Canada. In May, a 9\u00bd -month-old boy with a rare genetic disorder \u2013 CPS1 deficiency \u2013 became the first patient to receive a custom gene-editing therapy to fix a life-threatening genetic mutation.<\/p>\n CPS1 deficiency is a metabolic disorder where the body can\u2019t properly remove ammonia, which can lead to severe neurological problems, including vomiting and seizures. The disease is potentially lethal, especially in newborns. Usually, the liver clears ammonia from the blood with the help of an enzyme that baby KJ\u2019s liver couldn\u2019t produce because of his genetic mutation.<\/p>\n At the Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia, KJ received a customized CRISPR treatment<\/a>, which has been decades in the making. It involved what is essentially a biological GPS directing \u201cmolecular scissors\u201d to locate and alter the boy\u2019s precise DNA mutation. KJ had three infusions that targeted his liver, the results of which have been promising.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is another beacon of hope for that broader rare disease community, which impacts a substantial minority of all Canadians,\u201d said Dr. Costain.<\/p>\n Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n Gregory Costain at SickKids hospital sees hope for rare diseases from a pioneering gene-therapy case in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n He said one obstacle with gene-editing treatments is that companies have generally been uninterested in developing costly therapies that would only help a small portion of the population. But Dr. Costain is hopeful that the same method used for KJ can target different mutations, which would make it more broadly applicable to patients with rare diseases \u2013 a bit like a screwdriver with interchangeable heads to fit any screw.<\/p>\n He said Canada has the people and the infrastructure to do this sort of work. <\/p>\n \u201cOne thing I\u2019m excited about in Canada compared to the United States is that our public system, and the requirements that we operate within a public system, actually force us to think from the beginning around how we make access fair and equitable,\u201d said Dr. Costain.<\/p>\n \u201cWe can\u2019t stop at a single patient. We need to be able to ultimately offer these kinds of treatments, once they\u2019re proven safe and effective, to everyone in need.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2013 Alanna Smith and Ivan Semeniuk<\/p>\n Photo illustrations by The Globe and Mail (Getty Images) | Portraits courtesy of Sinai Health Foundation, Dr. Deepali Kumar, Ashley Metzger, University of Ottawa, SickKids<\/p>\n Age of breakthroughs: More from The Globe and MailThe Decibel podcast<\/p>\n Maryam Fatima had her first seizure within minutes of being born. On bad days, she had hundreds. To save her brain, doctors would have to destroy part of it with a radical surgery,<\/a> never used in Canada before. Health science reporter Jennifer Yang spoke with The Decibel<\/a> about what happened next. Subscribe for more episodes.<\/a><\/p>\n From our health and science team<\/p>\n Meet Canada\u2019s next generation of researchers<\/a><\/p>\n How Ontario doctors gave a pregnant patient a rare heart surgery<\/a><\/p>\n