New drug treatment for Huntington's Disease to be trialed in Scotland

PanARMENIAN.Net - Manufacturers at life sciences firm Wave Life Sciences are to trial a new drug treatment for the degenerative neurological condition Huntington's Disease in Glasgow, Scotland, Insider reports.

The US-based firm is focused on developing new therapies for patients with serious genetic disorders.

Its two new drugs, the firm believes, could target the faulty gene which causes Huntington's Disease.

A number of patients with early onset symptoms of Huntington's Disease have already been chosen to take part in the trial at Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital - one of a number of locations across the world.

Lead researcher Dr Stuart Ritchie said: "I am very excited Glasgow has been chosen to take part in this early stage drug trial.

"The Huntington's Disease community in the West of Scotland now have the opportunity to be involved in these ground-breaking research programmes."

Michael Panzara from the company said "Wave's PRECISION-HD programme is the first to target the underlying cause of Huntington's disease.

"These investigational compounds have the potential to address a critical unmet need for the HD patient community where no disease-modifying treatments are currently approved."

Huntington's Disease affects parts of the brain, with sufferings experiencing symptoms including stumbling and clumsiness, involuntary jerking or fidgety movements of the limbs and body and mood swings and personality changes.

They can also be liable to have difficulty concentrating and memory lapses, depression and eventually develop problems with swallowing, speaking and breathing.

The disease is inherited, with sufferers usually starting to experience symptoms between the ages of 30 and 50, with the condition often fatal after up to 20 years.

The trials of the new new treatment are expected to take approximately a year.

Wave Life Sciences anticipates the results will be released in the first half of 2019.