Asthma drugs to stop Parkinson’s

aStHma drugs could help halt parkinson’s disease, according to a new U.S. study.

It found that compounds known as beta-2 adrenergic agonists — found in treatments such as salbutamol, which is used to treat asthma by dilating the airways — appear to dampen the activity of a gene implicated in parkinson’s.

Researchers at Harvard medical School in boston analysed the health of 600,000 asthmatics who used salbutamol over 11 years, and found they were a third less likely to develop parkinson’s than non-users.

the scientists — whose findings were published in the journal Science — say the discovery is ‘exciting’, but that more work needs to be done before doctors can prescribe asthma medication for parkinson’s.