Tag: Nortriptyline

ADepTing to the UCB-Novartis deal

~ Simon ~ 6 Comments

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Alpha synuclein has long been viewed at “Public enemy #1” by the Parkinson’s research community. This sticky, abundant protein starts to cluster (or aggregate) in Parkinson’s.

There have been several attempts to reduce levels of the protein floating around outside of cells (using “immunotherapy” approaches)

But now clinical research is ramping up to determine if reducing aggregated alpha synuclein levels in the brain could help to slow/stop the progression of the condition.

In today’s post, we will look at three different lines of clinical research focused on small molecule inhibitors of alpha synuclein aggregation. 

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When someone mentions the pharmaceutical firm Novartis, it feels like the company has been around forever, but it is actually not that old.

It was created in March 1996 via the merger of two Swiss companies: Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz. The roots of those companies can be traced back more than 250 years, but the combined entity is still a spring chicken compared to many of its major competitors.

The name Novartis results from the combination of two words “Nova Artes”, which means new art and innovation in simple forms, but there is little in what the company does that is ‘simple’. A good example of this was their block buster cancer drug Gleevec/Glivec (imatinib) which was developed by careful “rational drug design” for very specific types of cancer.

Source: NCBI

The reputation for Swiss precision seems to flow through this company and they are always making very carefully placed bets.

Which makes their news this week rather interesting.

What news did they have?

Continue reading “ADepTing to the UCB-Novartis deal” →

2017 – Year in Review: A good vintage

~ Simon ~ 13 Comments

At the end of each year, it is a useful practise to review the triumphs (and failures) of the past 12 months. It is an exercise of putting everything into perspective. 

2017 has been an incredible year for Parkinson’s research.

And while I appreciate that statements like that will not bring much comfort to those living with the condition, it is still important to consider and appreciate what has been achieved over the last 12 months.

In this post, we will try to provide a summary of the Parkinson’s-related research that has taken place in 2017 (Be warned: this is a VERY long post!)

The number of research reports and clinical trial studies per year since 1817

As everyone in the Parkinson’s community is aware, in 2017 we were observing the 200th anniversary of the first description of the condition by James Parkinson (1817). But what a lot of people fail to appreciate is how little research was actually done on the condition during the first 180 years of that period.

The graphs above highlight the number of Parkinson’s-related research reports published (top graph) and the number of clinical study reports published (bottom graph) during each of the last 200 years (according to the online research search engine Pubmed – as determined by searching for the term “Parkinson’s“).

PLEASE NOTE, however, that of the approximately 97,000 “Parkinson’s“-related research reports published during the last 200 years, just under 74,000 of them have been published in the last 20 years.

That means that 3/4 of all the published research on Parkinson’s has been conducted in just the last 2 decades.

And a huge chunk of that (almost 10% – 7321 publications) has been done in 2017 only.

So what happened in 2017? Continue reading “2017 – Year in Review: A good vintage” →

The anti-depressing research of antidepressants

~ Simon ~ 6 Comments

Antidepressants are an important class of drugs in modern medicine, providing people with relief from the crippling effects of depression.

Recently, research has suggested that some of these drugs may also provide benefits to people suffering from Parkinson’s disease. But by saying this we are not talking about the depression that can sometimes be associated with this condition.

This new research suggests anti-depressants are actual providing neuroprotective benefits.

In today’s post we will discuss depression and its treatment, outline the recent research, and look at whether antidepressants could be useful for people with Parkinson’s disease.

Source: NatureWorldNews

It is estimated that 30 to 40% of people with Parkinson’s disease will suffer from some form of depression during the course of the condition, with 17% demonstrating major depression and 22% having minor depression (Click here to read more on this).

This is a very important issue for the Parkinson’s community.

Depression in Parkinson’s disease is associated with a variety of poor outcomes not only for the individuals, but also for their families/carers. These outcomes can include greater disability, less ability to care for oneself, faster disease progression, reduced cognitive performance, reduced adherence to treatment, worsening quality of life, and increased mortality. All of which causes higher levels of caregiver distress for those supporting the affected individual (Click here to read more about the impact of depression in early Parkinson’s).

What is depression?

Wikipedia defines depression as a “state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person’s thoughts, behaviour, feelings, and sense of well-being” (Source). It is a common mental state that causes people to experience loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt or low self-worth, disturbed sleep or appetite, low energy, and poor concentration.

Importantly, depression can vary significantly in severity, from simply causing a sense of melancholy to confining people to their beds.

Source: Prevention

What causes depression?

Continue reading “The anti-depressing research of antidepressants” →