New hope for Parkinson’s

Researchers tracked 60 people with Parkinson’s at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London for almost a year to investigate treatment with a new drug that could slow the progress of the disease.

Existing treatments merely ameliorate symptoms of Parkinson’s, such as tremors and stiffness, but the study published in The Lancet suggests that the drug exenatide targets its underlying cause.

Patients injected themselves once a week for 48 weeks with either exenatide, a drug commonly used to treat diabetes, or a placebo. Those in the placebo group experienced a typical rate of decline in their motor functions, while those in the exenatide group registered a modest improvement.

Scans also indicated that the brains of those taking the drug showed less degeneration.

The study’s lead author, Tom Foltynie, said: ‘‘This is the strongest evidence we have so far that a drug could do more than provide symptom relief for Parkinson’s disease.”

However, the scientists stressed that further research was required.

Exenatide comes from a class of compounds originally isolated from the venom of a lizard called the Gila monster. These compounds not only help control blood sugar levels in patients with diabetes, but also seem to protect neurons from toxins.