Hello Nature readers,

Today we explore a breathing-powered deep-brain stimulator, learn how fat molecules can help drugs slip into cells and consider how machine learning predicts personalized drug responses.

Breathing-powered deep-brain stimulation

Researchers have created a deep-brain stimulation device that draws power from the movement of breathing lungs. Deep-brain stimulation has been used to treat conditions including depression, Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy, but batteries for the stimulators last for only about three years. The new batteryless, paper-thin device uses a generator called a TENG, which relies on motion from the expansion and contraction of the lungs to bring electrodes together repeatedly, causing the build-up of electrical charge that can power the device.

England aims to defeat HIV

England hopes to become the first country with no new cases of HIV by 2030. The country’s National Health Service (NHS) has signed a series of deals that will ensure that medicines to prevent transmission of the virus are available nationwide. NHS England’s national medical director, Stephen Powis, said: “We now have a genuine chance of achieving no new HIV infections, thanks to … our ability to get effective drugs into the hands of the people who stand to benefit.”

Non-opioid painkillers set for phase III trial

US biotechnology company Vertex Pharmaceuticals is on track to move its acute-pain drug into phase III trials by the end of the year. This is a major development in the painkiller market because the drug is not an opioid, but a sodium-channel blocker. Although opioids are effective painkillers, they carry high risk of addiction. Vertex’s drug, dubbed VX-548, is the first of its kind to reach this stage of the painkiller pipeline. The company anticipates trial results by March 2024.

Race to develop Epstein–Barr vaccine

Pharmaceutical company Moderna and the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) are both working to develop a vaccine against Epstein–Barr virus. The virus is best-known for causing mononucleosis, also known as glandular fever, but research has firmly linked it to multiple sclerosis, a debilitating chronic disease that disrupts communication between the brain and other parts of the body, leading to bouts of extreme fatigue, blurred vision and muscle weakness, and can cause serious disability. Work on a vaccine could prove challenging, because Epstein–Barr “is a master of evading the immune system”, says Jessica Durkee-Shock, principal investigator for NIAID’s trial.