World-first medical trials offer Parkinson’s hope for millions
LONDON: A series of medical trials is about to commence that offers a ray of hope of an improved lifestyle for those afflicted by Parkinson’s.
Australia will host a clinical trial for a drug that promises to fight Parkinson’s disease as part of a global research effort to tackle the neurodegenerative disease that affects more than 215,000 people across the country.
Richard Wyse, the world authority on the disease, says the co-ordinated effort will bring “major change” to a field that has not produced a better drug than one discovered almost 50 years ago.
The trial drug, developed by US pharmaceutical company Anavex, is one of the therapies identified by a committee of experts as deserving prioritisation among hundreds others.
Initial overseas results suggested the Anavex drug was a “meaningful step forward” for treating Parkinson’s. Researchers hope it could slow the development of the disease within patients, compared to existing therapies that can only ease a patient’s decline during otherwise unabated development of the disease.
The Australian trial will be a part of a series to combat Parkinson’s disease that Dr Wyse, who chairs the expert committee as director of clinical development at UK charity Cure Parkinson’s, says makes him “hugely encouraged”.
“I think we’re going to make a major impact in the neurodegeneration field over the next year or so,” he said.
“We’re trying to find treatments which will slow the development of the disease so people get worse at maybe 4 to 7 per cent a year.”
The late-stage clinical trial has been set up by non-profit philanthropy group Shake It Up, under its Catalyst program, which aims to accelerate the rollout of therapies to combat Parkinson’s disease.
Shake It Up chief Vicki Miller said she hoped this would be the first of several drugs to be trialled in Australia. The goal, she said, was to see future Australian consumers have access to drugs that would not only slow the development of the neurodegenerative disease, but also stop and cure it.
Authorities estimate that patient numbers are expected to balloon as the country’s population ages.
Dr Wyse highlighted two other drugs that he thought would be fit to test in Australia, developed by Enterin and Neuronasal respectively.
“There’s a lot going for the drugs,” he said. “All of these drugs have been prioritised by our committee. We don’t have the money or resources to do all of the [trials] in Europe, where we’re based.”
The initial research and development for these drugs is often undertaken by pharmaceutical companies.
“They’ll say, ‘well we’re not interested in developing therapies for Parkinson’s – we’re not a neurology company … we don’t have a team of 50 neurologists that we would need to bring the idea to trial and develop it commercially’,” he said.
“But they’ll give us the drug and placebo, which saves us $2m to $3m for each trial.
