A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine has unveiled that a diabetes medication could potentially slow down the worsening of motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson’s disease.
This neurodegenerative disorder, which affects around 10 million people worldwide, has no known cure and leads to a range of symptoms including tremors, slowed movements, speech impairments, and balance problems.
The research focused on a class of drugs known as GLP-1 receptor agonists.
These drugs are designed to mimic a hormone from the gut that’s used in treating diabetes and obesity, with a growing interest in their ability to also protect neurons.
Previous studies exploring their benefits for Parkinson’s patients have shown inconclusive results, making this new study particularly noteworthy.
Conducted in France, the study involved 156 participants in the early stages of Parkinson’s. These individuals were randomly assigned to either receive lixisenatide—a drug sold under the brand names Adlyxin and Lyxumia by Sanofi—or a placebo.
Lixisenatide, administered via injection, showed a “modest” effect over a year, with treated patients experiencing no further worsening of their motor symptoms, unlike those who received the placebo. This effect was primarily noted through professional assessments involving physical tasks.
Olivier Rascol, a senior author of the study and a neurologist at Toulouse University, highlighted that while the improvements were modest, they were nonetheless significant.
He suggested that the true benefits of the treatment might become more evident with longer follow-up due to the slow progression of Parkinson’s disease.
Despite these encouraging results, gastrointestinal side effects like nausea, vomiting, and reflux were common among participants on the drug, with some also experiencing weight loss.
These side effects prompt a need for further research to confirm the drug’s safety and efficacy before it can be recommended for Parkinson’s patients.
Experts in the field have welcomed the findings with cautious optimism. Michael Okun, medical director of the Parkinson’s Foundation, acknowledged the study’s significance despite the clinical differences in patient outcomes not being markedly significant.
He called for further investigation into the drug’s potential neuroprotective effects.
Rodolfo Savica from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota also commented on the need for replication of the study to validate its results. He mentioned that analyzing the data based on different age groups might uncover specific age ranges where the treatment is more effective.
As the Parkinson’s community looks forward to additional trials that could confirm these preliminary findings, this study marks a promising step toward potentially slowing the progression of Parkinson’s disease through a novel treatment approach.
If you care about Parkinson’s disease, please read studies about Vitamin E that may help prevent Parkinson’s disease, and Vitamin D could benefit people with Parkinson’s disease.
For more information about brain health, please see recent studies about new way to treat Parkinson’s disease, and results showing COVID-19 may be linked to Parkinson’s disease.
The research findings can be found in New England Journal of Medicine.
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