Parkinson’s disease is the second neurodegenerative pathology most common after Alzheimer. It is characterized by a destruction of neurons and causes tremors, muscle rigidity and slowing of movements.
This condition affects every year 200,000 French according to government figures. Every year, 25,000 new cases are identified. If it occurs mainly with age, 17% of those affected are still under 50 years old.
Currently, no treatment exists to cure this pathology. This is a major issue which the Lille University Hospital and the start-up InBrain Pharma have looked into. They are working on a treatment, the first results of which are promising.
Parkinson: disease linked to a lack of dopamine
Currently, healthcare professionals can only offer treatments that improve patient quality of life like the dopamine injections. “The disease of Parkinson first causes progressive degeneration of dopamine neurons in the brain. Dopamine being a neurotransmitter involved in the control of many functions such as voluntary movements, the cognitionmotivation and affects.”, explains INSERM on its website.
But this solution is far from perfect. It calms the effects, but does not cure. Moreover, this treatment can lose effectiveness, as explained by Professor David Devos, neurologist at the University Hospital of Lille. “In the first five to ten years of the disease, oral treatment is usually sufficient. Afterwards, it causes complications in 50 to 80% of patients who constantly go from overdose to underdose“.
The Lille researchers then looked at the effects of dopamine when delivered directly to the brain. Their new treatment called DIVE consists of inject the missing dopamine directly into the brain. Matthieu Fisichella, director of the start-up explained the process to the newspaper 20 minutes: “an electric pump containing the drug is implanted in the abdomen and goes send dopamine to the brain via a catheter“.
Dopamine in the brain: first promising results
The first clinical trial was carried out with four patients. At the end, about twenty patients were included in the research. The treatment does not slow down the affection, but allows the patients to gain in quality of life and autonomy. It is also a device less invasive for patients than those that currently exist.
The clinical trial is still ongoing and testing will continue until 2024but the researchers were keen to share these results which they consider to be very promising. “Usually, we don’t communicate so quickly, but the impact on the symptoms of the disease is so important. With a treatment dose of 200 mg/24h, patients achieve perfect symptom control 80% of their day”explains Professor Devos.
The start-up then planned a larger trial involving around 100 patients in Europe. For scientists, this treatment brings hope and could allow the future to develop drugs to cure neurodegenerative conditions, such as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer.