Hope for thousands of Motor Neurone Disease patients as new drug helps man to walk again 🔴 BawdenTom reports
Science & Environment CorrespondentA new drug to treat Motor Neurone Disease has given fresh hope to thousands after it helped a man to walk again.produced unprecedented results, slowing down progression of the disease in some patients and even reversing its progress in others.
However, researchers stressed that while this is an exciting breakthrough, it is still too early to know how many people may benefit. “I have conducted more than 25 clinical trials for motor neurone disease and the tofersen trial is the first trial in which patients have reported an improvement in their motor function.
He said: “After 12 months of taking the drug I could actually walk in the house without sticks, I was able to come off some of my painkillers and I felt a lot better in myself. MND is a progressive disease so although my symptoms have continued to worsen, I would not be without the drug and the difference I know it has made to my quality of life.
Dr Brian Dickie, Director of Research at the Motor Neuron Disease Association said: “These latest results provide mounting confidence that Tofersen is having both a biological and a beneficial clinical effect in people living with SOD1 MND. “Biogen have started an ‘early access programme’ in the UK for anyone with a SOD1 mutation and motor neuron disease whilst the complex regulatory discussions are going on,” he said.
“There may be a way of delivering the monthly treatment without having to have a lumbar puncture every time so there are implantable devices that can sit in the spinal fluid where you can inject the [treatment] into a reservoir which might be buried under the skin.” MND, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , is a disorder that affects the nerves – or motor neurones – in the brain and spinal cord that form the connection between the nervous system and muscles to enable movement of the body. The messages from these nerves gradually stop reaching the muscles, leading them to weaken, stiffen and eventually waste. The progressive disease affects a patient’s ability to walk, talk, use their arms and hands, eat and breathe.
When they are working well, SOD1 proteins dispose of free radicals – particles in our bodies that can damage our cells, causing illness and aging.
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