What if there was a medication that could treat not just one, but multiple devastating diseases: leukemia, Alzheimer’s and dementia, and Parkinson’s? At Georgetown University Medical Center, researchers are hopeful that nilotinib is that medication. Now approved to be used in those with one type of leukemia, a small trial is producing great excitement in its promising results to clear the brain of toxic proteins.
Georgetown’s medical director of the translational neurotherapeutics program, Fernando Pagan, explains it this way: “Our drug goes into the cells to turn on that garbage disposal mechanism. And if we’re able to degrade these proteins, we could potentially stop the progression of this disorder.”
Due to the encouraging results of the small trial, a larger, more in-depth trial involving 75 patients with Parkinson’s and 42 patients with Alzheimer’s disease is underway. Hopefully these results will be equally as positive, but regardless, the many years of research that have gone into testing nilotinib along with other new possible developments are helping pave the way towards practical treatment methods, or perhaps an eventual cure.
Trials on mice with Parkinson’s disease have been encouraging, with the disease actually being cured in the mice. It has also been effective in a small number of human trials in people that have Parkinson’s and dementia, for which there currently is not a treatment offered to stop or even slow the continuing development of the diseases. For those in the initial testing phase, improvements in a variety of areas were noted: speech and mobility, most notably.
The next phase of the study has already begun by currently enrolling new patients with Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease. This phase is anticipated to be completed in about a year. More details regarding the upcoming Alzheimer’s study are available here, while information regarding the Parkinson’s study can be found here.
For further resources on helping individuals with Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, call on the Iowa home care specialists at Advanced Home Health Care. We can provide a full range of expert in-home care with our trained and knowledgeable specialized Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s caregivers. Contact us in Iowa at 800.791.7785 to schedule a free in-home assessment or to allow us to answer any questions you might have.
