Dr Sara talks about a daily pill that could prevent Parkinson's
Currently, there are around 145,000 people living with Parkinson’s disease in the UK. Worryingly, predictions suggest that the number of cases will rise by a fifth between 2020 and 2030 because of population growth and ageing. However, a new daily pill could help halt the progression of this fast-growing neurological condition. Dr Sara Kayat has shared it looks “really promising”.
A new daily pill brings a glimmer of hope for tens of thousands of people in Britain living with Parkinson’s disease.
“Thus far all of our treatments are based on reducing the symptoms,” said Dr Sara Kayat on ITV’s This Morning.
“We haven’t really got anything to actually hold the progression of it.”
However, scientists are expected to reveal a drug candidate that could stop Parkinson’s from progressing.
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Dr Sara added: “This is being unveiled by scientists this week so hopefully we learn even more about it.
“It’s based on boosting a process known as autophagy, which is essentially the way that our systems clean themselves and remove toxic materials.
“The hope is that this daily pill will help reduce the progression.”
A biopharmaceutical firm, Samsara Therapeutics, has created this new treatment aimed at boosting the cleaning systems that Dr Sara described.
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Peter Hamley, chief scientific officer at Samsara Therapeutics, explained that by boosting autophagy, all movement and motor control was regained in the mice that were tested in their trial.
Parkinson’s disease is characterised by motor symptoms, including tremor, stiffness and slowness of movement.
Hamley told The Telegraph: “We think there is a chance of reversing [Parkinson’s], although it’s more likely that it would halt it.”
The new pill is still being developed but the findings set to be released this week should unveil more about this treatment.
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Dr Sara said: “Currently, it’s only been tested on mice and has been tested on cells of people with Parkinson’s disease.
“The next phase is to actually test it on a larger number of humans but it’s really promising.”
Samsara hopes to launch its first human trial later this year, which is expected to take place in Holland.
This could put the drug on course to be rolled out in around five or six years’ time.
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