Research suggests that drugs similar to those used in the “skinny jab” may help slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease symptoms.
According to the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, more than 10 million people worldwide have Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s disease is a disease in which nerve cells in the brain are lost over time, causing problems with movement, balance, and memory.
Although there are treatments to manage symptoms, there is no cure.
However, in recent years, glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (or GLP-1R agonists) have caused excitement, and one such drug, a type 2 diabetes drug called exenatide, has been shown to improve motor symptoms in a small group of people. It has been found to be helpful in slowing the progression of . People with Parkinson’s disease.
Now, researchers say that another similar drug, a type 2 diabetes drug called lixisenatide, appears to have similar effects, suggesting that Parkinson’s disease may be linked to insulin resistance in the brain. He says it supports the theory.
The study’s lead researcher, Professor Vasilios Meissner from Bordeaux University Hospital, said the results were interesting.
“We always have to be careful about all the interpretations and applicability at this stage, but this is actually a very, very clear and strong signal that we’ve never seen before. Thing” [in the] The exenatide trial,” he said.
GLP-1R agonists have become famous for their use in managing type 2 diabetes and aiding in weight loss, with semaglutide and liraglutide being the best known.
However, unlike exenatide and lixisenatide, they do not easily enter the brain, making them unlikely to be used to treat Parkinson’s disease.
Writing in the New England Journal of Medicine, French researchers report how they randomly divided 156 people recently diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease into two equally sized groups.
Both groups took regular Parkinson’s medications, but one group received additional daily injections of lixisenatide and the other group received a placebo.
Before, during, and after the study, participants were screened for motor symptoms and given a score on a disease severity scale.
As a result, after 12 months, patients who received lixisenatide showed essentially no progression of movement disorders, while patients who received placebo showed worsening of their symptoms, on a 132-point rating scale. It was revealed that the score had dropped by 3 points. Although this is a small difference, it is considered clinically significant.
The difference remained two months after the trial was halted and other Parkinson’s drugs were stopped overnight.
This suggests that lixisenatide not only reduces symptoms, but also protects the brain from neuron loss, the researchers say.
However, there was a downside: about half of the participants who received lixisenatide reported nausea and 13% reported vomiting.
Researchers are investigating whether lixisenatide actually slows the progression of the disease itself, whether its effects persist over a long period of time, or whether they increase even further when the drug is given over a long period of time, the optimal dose, and how well the drug currently works. He added that more research is needed to find out whether it benefits people. Other stages of Parkinson’s disease.
Heather Mortiboys, professor of cellular neuroscience and metabolism at the University of Sheffield, who was not involved in the study, said the discovery paves the way for large-scale phase 3 clinical trials.
“Results from a new clinical trial of lixisenatide show a significant reduction in the progression of motor symptoms compared to the placebo group, and are an important part of our research fight to bring new drugs to the Parkinson’s clinic. “It shows very promising and very exciting progress,” she said.
“This study lends added weight to all the current results showing that this class of drugs, GLP-1R agonists, has real potential against Parkinson’s disease.”
