An Ozempic Relative Slowed Parkinson’s Disease in a Small Study

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 disease may be stopped.”

Now, practically 200 years since Parkinson expressed his hope, and after 4 many years of unsuccessful scientific trials, a gaggle of French researchers stories 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, much like the wildly fashionable medication Ozempic, for diabetes, and Wegovy, for weight problems.

As many as half one million Americans have been identified with Parkinson’s illness, a degenerative mind sickness second solely to Alzheimer’s in prevalence.

Symptoms embrace tremors, slowness and stiffness, and issue with stability. That can result in issue strolling, speaking and swallowing. Many sufferers develop dementia.

But there are medication and coverings, like deep mind stimulation, that assist, stated Dr. David Standaert, a Parkinson’s knowledgeable on the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

“You will look and feel much better,” Dr. Standaert stated. The drawback is that the illness inexorably progresses.

“When you get five or 10 years into Parkinson’s, a lot of problems emerge,” he stated.

The new examine gave researchers cautious hope.

It will not be a slam dunk, however it’s “nibbling at the edges of disease modification,” stated Dr. Michael S. Okun, a Parkinson’s illness knowledgeable on the University of Florida who was not concerned within the examine.

Dr. Standaert, who additionally was not concerned within the trial, stated it was “a really encouraging step forward.”

“There were so many trials that showed no success,” he added.

Dr. Hyun Joo Cho on the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke stated the examine was “very important” however cautioned that it was a Phase 2 examine, designed to check a speculation however not sufficiently big or lengthy sufficient to be definitive.

“There are many many examples of very promising Phase 2 trials,” she stated. “People get very excited, and then it doesn’t pan out.”

The paper, revealed Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, 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 Cure Parkinson’s, a British charity.

During 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 negative effects like nausea and vomiting in additional than half of the contributors, maybe as a result of the researchers began with the best dose as an alternative of steadily rising it as is finished with GLP-1 medication like Ozempic or Wegovy. In a 3rd of contributors, whose negative effects grew to become insupportable, the researchers halved their dose.

For the European researchers, led by Dr. Wassilios G. Meissner of the University of Bordeaux and Dr. Olivier Rascol of the University of Toulouse, it made sense to see if a GLP-1 drug may sluggish Parkinson’s.

Studies have repeatedly discovered that individuals with Type 2 diabetes are at elevated danger for Parkinson’s illness, Dr. Rascol stated. But 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, although the sufferers didn’t have diabetes. GLP-1 medication deal with insulin resistance.

Finally, he stated, GLP-1 medication can connect to proteins in neurons, so they could have an effect on the mind in numerous methods.

The French group says it desires to do a bigger and longer examine if it may possibly get funding, and if it may possibly get extra of the drug. At the beginning of this yr, Sanofi withdrew the drug within the U.S. and stated it has began withdrawing it worldwide. The transfer was made for enterprise causes, an organization spokesman stated.

But what about Parkinson’s sufferers who’ve diabetes or weight problems? They are eligible for a GLP-1 drug. Should they take one within the hopes it is going to sluggish their Parkinson’s?

“It is reasonable” for them to take the medication, stated Dr. Standaert, who wrote an editorial accompanying the examine.

But, 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 won’t learn anything from it,” he stated.