Global Health Asia-Pacific Issue 3 | 2023 Issue 3 | 2023 | Page 32

Existing treatment is safe and might help delay progression of the disease

People who received the drug in both phases were more physically active than those in the placebo group .

Parkinson ’ s disease has slowed the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ( ALS ), raising hopes that improved treatment for the incurable condition might be in the making .

Researchers from Japan tested the drug on 20 patients with sporadic ALS ( people with no family history of the disease ) who have lived with it for about 20 months and the results showed that the treatment could delay the progression of ALS by 27.9 weeks on average . No safety concerns emerged during the trial .

Also known as Lou Gehrig ’ s disease , ALS is a neurological condition affecting nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement . It progresses over time and can make patients unable to chew , walk , and talk normally . Most patients die within three to five years after symptoms appear .

�ALS is totally incurable , and it ’ s a very di�cult disease to treat , � said Dr Hideyuki Okano , senior author and physiologist at the Keio University School of Medicine in Tokyo , in a press release . �We previously identified ropinirole as a potential anti-ALS drug in vitro by iPSC drug discovery , and with this trial , we have shown that it is safe to use in ALS patients and that it potentially has some therapeutic effect , but to confirm its effectiveness we need more studies , and we are now planning a phase 3 trial for the near future . �

To measure the effectiveness of the drug , the researchers monitored patients for four weeks after the end of treatment and checked participants ’ selfreported physical activity and ability to eat and drink independently as well as activity data from wearable devices and physician-measured changes in mobility , muscle strength and lung function .

�We found that ropinirole is safe and tolerable for ALS patients and shows therapeutic promise at helping them sustain daily activity and muscle strength , � said first author Satoru Morimoto , a neurologist at the Keio University School of Medicine in Tokyo , in the press release .

The double-blind study comprised people who received ropinirole and participants who got a placebo for the first 24 weeks , with patients and doctors unaware of who was taking the drug . After this period , all participants had the chance to knowingly take the drug for another 24 weeks .

People who received the drug in both phases were more physically active than those in the placebo group . In addition , their mobility , muscle strength , and lung function declined to a slower rate and they were more likely to survive . However , patients in the placebo group who took ropinirole in the second phase saw no improvements , suggesting that treatment should start early and last for a longer time .

Researchers said that treatment effectiveness could vary significantly from patient to patient though it was unclear why that was the case . They hypothesised the variation was due to genetic differences they will try to investigate in future studies .

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