Happy days are here for your mum and dad as this new drug promises to treat Parkinson’s

Shaky body, tremors, loss of balance, bad posture, and change in speech are a few symptoms of Parkinson’s disease which grows more on your parent(s) as they age. Unfortunately, till now this disease was incurable – but thanks to this study that there is still a little bit of hope.  

An experimental drug has shown promise in treating debilitating movement problems in people with Parkinson’s disease. 

A new drug to control involuntary movement in Parkinson’s patients
Research carried out by the US biotech company Neurolixis analysed the effect of the drug NLX-112 on dyskinesia, a common side effect associated with Parkinson’s seen in people who have been taking levodopa-based medications for several years.

It causes involuntary movements that can affect various parts of the body, making everyday tasks impossible, the researchers said.

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The main medication available to manage dyskinesia is amantadine, which can have side effects, and does not work for everyone, they said.

Up to 50% of all people with Parkinson’s will experience dyskinesia after just five years of taking levodopa, and around 80% will experience it after ten years of taking the medication, according to the team.

This drug has shown promising potential in treating Parkinson’s
NLX-112 works by targeting serotonin cells inside the brain which are believed to contribute to the development of dyskinesia, by releasing dopamine in an erratic manner.

It aims to reduce dyskinesia by decreasing the amount of dopamine the cells release.

In the study, published in the journal Neuropharmacology, NLX-112 was tested in marmoset monkeys with Parkinson’s-like symptoms.

The marmosets had developed the side effect of dyskinesia in response to levodopa treatment in a similar way to many people with Parkinson’s.

The study looked at the effect of NLX-112 both on its own and in combination with levodopa, to understand how it impacted both dyskinesia and Parkinson’s symptoms.

This drug will make doing everyday tasks easy for your parents
The results showed that NLX-112 successfully reduced dyskinesia and crucially, did not significantly reduce the effectiveness of levodopa, which many other similar drugs do, researchers said.

When NLX-112 was used on its own, it again improved movement problems, they said.

These promising results suggest that NLX-112 has potential as a future treatment for not only reducing dyskinesia, but also for improving the movement symptoms of Parkinson’s.

“This promising research on NLX-112 offers hope that we can find a treatment that can tackle dyskinesia, which can make everyday tasks, such as eating, writing and walking, extremely difficult,” said Arthur Roach, Director of Research at Parkinson’s UK.

Roach said:

So, thanks to this study which is going to help us in the future – if this disorder hits our parent(s).