In 1817, James Parkinson expressed a hope concerning the illness that’s named after him. He thought that in some unspecified time in the future there can be a discovery and “the progress of the illness could also be stopped.”
Now, almost 200 years since Parkinson expressed his hope, and after 4 many years of unsuccessful medical trials, a bunch of French researchers studies the primary glimmer of success — a modest slowing of the illness in a one-year examine.
And the drug they used? A so-called GLP-1 receptor agonist, just like the wildly well-liked medication Ozempic, for diabetes, and Wegovy, for weight problems.
As many as half 1,000,000 Individuals have been identified with Parkinson’s illness, a degenerative mind sickness second solely to Alzheimer’s in prevalence.
Signs embrace tremors, slowness and stiffness, and issue with stability. That may result in issue strolling, speaking and swallowing. Many sufferers develop dementia.
However there are medication and coverings, like deep mind stimulation, that assist, mentioned Dr. David Standaert, a Parkinson’s skilled on the College of Alabama at Birmingham.
“You’ll feel and look significantly better,” Dr. Standaert mentioned. The issue is that the illness inexorably progresses.
“Once you get 5 or 10 years into Parkinson’s, quite a lot of issues emerge,” he mentioned.
The brand new examine gave researchers cautious hope.
It’s not a slam dunk, however it’s “nibbling on the edges of illness modification,” mentioned Dr. Michael S. Okun, a Parkinson’s illness skilled on the College of Florida who was not concerned within the examine.
Dr. Standaert, who additionally was not concerned within the trial, mentioned it was “a extremely encouraging step ahead.”
“There have been so many trials that confirmed no success,” he added.
Dr. Hyun Joo Chu on the Nationwide Institute of Neurological Issues and Stroke mentioned the examine was “essential” however cautioned that it was a Section 2 examine, designed to check a speculation however not sufficiently big or lengthy sufficient to be definitive.
“There are various many examples of very promising Section 2 trials,” she mentioned. “Individuals get very excited, after which it doesn’t pan out.”
The paper, printed Wednesday in The New England Journal of Drugs, concerned 156 folks with early Parkinson’s illness who have been randomly assigned to take the drug — lixisenatide, made by Sanofi — or a placebo and adopted for a yr. The trial was funded by the French authorities and Remedy Parkinson’s, a British charity.
Throughout that point, Parkinson’s signs like tremor, stiffness, slowness and stability worsened in these taking the placebo however not in these taking the drug.
The drug additionally precipitated gastrointestinal unwanted effects like nausea and vomiting in additional than half of the individuals, maybe as a result of the researchers began with the best dose as a substitute of steadily growing it as is finished with GLP-1 medication like Ozempic or Wegovy. In a 3rd of individuals, whose unwanted effects turned insupportable, the researchers halved their dose.
For the European researchers, led by Dr. Wassilios G. Meissner of the College of Bordeaux and Dr. Olivier Rascol of the College of Toulouse, it made sense to see if a GLP-1 drug might sluggish Parkinson’s.
Research have repeatedly discovered that individuals with Sort 2 diabetes are at elevated danger for Parkinson’s illness, Dr. Rascol mentioned. However that elevated danger declines in those that take a GLP-1 drug to deal with their diabetes.
He added that autopsy research of mind tissue from Parkinson’s sufferers had discovered abnormalities associated to insulin resistance, despite the fact that the sufferers didn’t have diabetes. GLP-1 medication deal with insulin resistance.
Lastly, he mentioned, GLP-1 medication can connect to proteins in neurons, so they could have an effect on the mind in several methods.
The French group says it desires to do a bigger and longer examine if it might probably get funding, and if it might probably get extra of the drug. Firstly of this yr, Sanofi withdrew the drug within the U.S. and mentioned it has began withdrawing it worldwide. The transfer was made for enterprise causes, an organization spokesman mentioned.
However what about Parkinson’s sufferers who’ve diabetes or weight problems? They’re eligible for a GLP-1 drug. Ought to they take one within the hopes it’s going to sluggish their Parkinson’s?
“It’s affordable” for them to take the medication, mentioned Dr. Standaert, who wrote an editorial accompanying the examine.
However, he cautioned, they will be unable to inform if the medication have precipitated their illness development to sluggish as a result of they received’t know what would have occurred if they’d not taken it.
“We received’t be taught something from it,” he mentioned.
