A new drug is being tested for pain relief. Parkinson’s disease (PD) symptoms – and it’s reportedly looking promising.
According to the study published in the journal Nature Medicine on June 20, the drug is designed to slow or stop the progression of the disease in patients by targeting a toxic protein that forms in the brain.
Researchers conducted an investigational Phase 1 placebo-controlled trial immunotherapy drug This test, called UB-312, is done for safety, tolerability and immunogenicity (strength of the immune response).
Trial results showed the drug was generally safe and well tolerated by patients as a disease-modifying treatment for Parkinson’s.
The researchers said that, to their knowledge, this is the first report showing a positive effect of such an investigational therapy.
In a new study, Parkinson’s patients reported improvements in daily activities after being given UB-312. (iStock)
There is currently no cure for Parkinson’s, only medications available to treat the symptoms.
“UB-312 is designed to modify disease progression by targeting the underlying cause of Parkinson’s disease,” Lou Rees, co-founder of Vaxiniti, a Texas-based pharmaceutical company that worked on the study, told Fox News Digital.
Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, the University of Texas McGovern Medical School, and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, also helped with the study.
“In our Phase 1 TrialWe showed that UB-312 may be able to stop or even reverse disease progression by successfully targeting aggregated alpha-synuclein.”
(Alpha-synuclein is an acidic protein that builds up in the brains of Parkinson’s patients.)
UB-312 is given as an injection, typically through multiple doses over several months, Reese said.
“Time and science will help us determine if this new approach will be better.”
During the trial, PD patients reported improvements in daily activities after receiving the new medication.
The drug was found to be safe and well tolerated. healthy people According to Reese, the drug is equally effective in patients with Parkinson’s disease, and has only minimal side effects, including headaches and fatigue.
The UB-312 drug is given via injection, usually through multiple doses over several months. (iStock)
UB-312 works by targeting the “harmful Parkinson’s protein” alpha-synuclein and the “harmful Parkinson’s protein”. Production of antibodies “There’s no argument against it,” the researcher said.
In the trial, 12 of 13 patients developed antibodies, which Rees described as “a major step forward in PD treatment.”
Researchers find sources of four brain disorders, could lead to new treatments
“These antibodies reached the brain and interacted with the target proteins,” he said.
According to Reese, based on the “promising” results from Phase 1, UB-312 will now move into Phase 2 trials, focusing on more patient populations while optimizing dosing.
The alpha-synuclein antibodies “reached the brain and interacted with the target protein,” the researchers said. (iStock)
“The ultimate goal is to develop effective, disease-modifying treatments that can improve outcomes and provide hope for individuals with Parkinson’s disease,” he said.
For more health articles, visit here www.foxnews/health
“This is exciting because we are focusing on the root cause of Parkinson’s, not just the symptoms. This is the first drug that can turn a patient from positive to negative.”
Click here to sign up for our health newsletter
However, some doctors warn that Parkinson’s patients shouldn’t get their hopes up just yet.
“People with Parkinson’s should know that although the findings were interesting, this was only a safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity study, and so there is a long way to go in the development of this treatment,” said Michael S. Okun, MD, medical advisor to the Parkinson’s Foundation and director at the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases. University of Florida Healthtold Fox News Digital.
One doctor told Fox News Digital that scientists are “concerned” that this approach will not improve outcomes or slow disease progression. (iStock)
Okun was not involved in the study.
Okun acknowledged that the injections “improved the immune system,” as researchers observed the presence of antibodies in blood samples from most of the study participants.
“The concern many scientists have about this approach is that it will neither improve clinical outcomes nor slow disease progression,” he said.
Click here to get the Fox News app
“Two similar antibody trials of pracinezumab and sinapanumab were published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2022, but both of those trials failed to meet their primary outcomes.”
Okun concluded that “Time and science This will help us determine if this new approach will be better.”
