'Ground-breaking' experimental drug offers new hope to people struck down with Huntington's disease
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Results from a 'ground-breaking' drug trial offer new hope to people with Huntington's disease.
The experimental drug, injected into spinal fluid, was shown to lower levels of the harmful protein responsible for the devastating inherited brain disorder .
The agent, known as IONIS-HTTRx, is the first drug designed to target the root cause of Huntington's.
A total of 46 patients with early-stage Huntington's disease took part in the trial, conducted at nine centres in the UK, Germany and Canada.
The study confirmed that the treatment worked as hoped, and was well-tolerated by the participants.
(Image: Getty)
Lead researcher Professor Sarah Tabrizi, head of University College London's Huntington's Disease Centre, said: "The results of this trial are of ground-breaking importance for Huntington's disease patients and families.
"For the first time a drug has lowered the level of the toxic disease-causing protein in the nervous system, and the drug was safe and well-tolerated.
"The key now is to move quickly to a larger trial to test whether (the drug) slows disease progression."
(Image: Toronto Star)
Huntington's disease is a progressive neurological disorder that normally appears in adulthood and causes involuntary movements, psychiatric symptoms, and dementia.
Currently incurable, the condition affects an estimated 10,000 people in the UK. A further 25,000 are thought to be at risk.
Patients usually die within 20 years after the onset of symptoms.
(Image: OJO Images RF)
The new drug, developed by Ionis Pharmaceuticals, contains an "antisense" molecule consisting of a single strand of chemically-modified DNA.
The DNA strand stops the genetic instructions for making the Huntington's protein getting through to manufacturing machinery in brain cells.
Levels of the toxic HTT protein are reduced, thereby minimising damage to the brain.