This is good news for all those affected by the Parkinson disease. Neurology researchers from Georgetown University in Washington (USA) announced on October 17, 2015, at the annual meeting of the American Society for Neuroscience in Chicago, that a molecule used against leukemias showed promising results in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies, two neurodegenerative diseases.
Find the use of walking and talking
The researchers indeed carried out a clinical trial on 11 patients for six months. They administered a drug marketed under the name of Tasigna by Novartis laboratories whose active ingredient is the molecule of Nilotinib. The latter would reduce the concentration of proteins toxic to the brain, such as tau protein, which would play a role in neurodegenerative diseases. The neurologists have thus noted significant improvements in the patients receiving this molecule: one of the patients who was stuck in a wheelchair regained the use of walking, and three other patients who no longer spoke were once again able to hold a conversation. “To my knowledge, this study is the first to show that a therapy seems to reverse – to a greater or lesser degree depending on the stage of the disease – the cognitive and motor decline of patients“welcomed Fernando Pagan, one of the authors of this work.
A clinical trial to complete
Nevertheless, Dr. Pagan points out that this study did not have a control group made up of patients who would not have taken this treatment to establish these initial results. Moreover, the treatment was not compared with a placebo or with the other drugs usually delivered to treat Parkinson’s disease. “It is important to conduct larger and more in-depth studies before determining the real impact of the drug.” he concluded. A second phase of clinical trial including people suffering from Parkinson’s disease andAlzheimer’s should start in 2016.
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