Drug found to slow Motor Neurone Disease symptoms for over six months

dailyrecord.co.uk:

A new study has found that a drug used to treat Parkinson's disease is able to safely slow the progression of an incurable form of motor neurone disease for over six months.Clinical trials showed that ropinirole delays the symptoms of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

It claimed the life of cosmologist Stephen Hawking.ALS, which does not have a cure, causes people to gradually lose control of their muscles.

At the moment, treatments focus on reducing the symptoms and providing supportive care.But now Japanese scientists have shown that ropinirole, used to treat the symptoms of Parkinson's disease and restless legs syndrome, is safe to use in ALS patients and delayed disease progression by an average of 27.9 weeks.Some patients were more responsive to ropinirole treatment than others, according to the findings published in the journal Cell Stem Cell.Senior author Professor Hideyuki Okano, of the Keio University School of Medicine in Tokyo, said: "ALS is totally incurable, and it's a very difficult disease to treat."We previously identified ropinirole as a potential anti-ALS drug in vitro, and with this trial, we have shown that it is safe to use in ALS patients and that it potentially has some therapeutic effect."But to confirm its effectiveness we need more studies, and we are now planning a phase three trial for the near future."To test ropinirole's safety and effectiveness in patients with sporadic ALS, the team recruited 20 patients receiving care at Keio University Hospital.None of the patients carried genes predisposing to the disease, and, on average, they had been living with ALS for 20 months.The patients and doctors did not know which patients were receiving ropinirole and