Promising drug slows down advance of Parkinson's disease and improves symptoms

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-11/tju-pds112912.php

Public release date: 29-Nov-2012
Contact: Steve Graff
Thomas Jefferson University

GM1 ganglioside slowed progression of disease in patients over at least a 2-year period

PHILADELPHIA—Treating Parkinson's disease patients with the experimental drug GM1 ganglioside improved symptoms and slowed their progression during a two and a half-year trial, Thomas Jefferson University researchers report in a new study published online November 28 in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences.

Although the precise mechanisms of action of this drug are still unclear, the drug may protect patients' dopamine-producing neurons from dying and at least partially restore their function, thereby increasing levels of dopamine, the key neurochemical missing in the brain of Parkinson's patients.