Repurposing Drugs to Combat Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Diseases

Strategic Insights -

A new collaboration between charities Cure Parkinson's and Alzheimer's Research UK is underway to explore the potential of existing drugs to treat both Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's. This approach, known as repurposing drugs, aims to swiftly discover new treatments by identifying common biology behind both diseases. By targeting these common biological processes, experts hope to uncover more drugs with multiple uses, such as weight loss jabs currently being investigated for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's symptoms.

Key Takeaways:

  • The collaboration will examine whether existing drugs can be repurposed to tackle both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, with a focus on common biological processes such as inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and protein misfolding.
  • The project has already been "hugely successful" in identifying disease-modifying therapies for Parkinson's, with around 30% of clinical trial candidates coming through this process.
  • Repurposing drugs can "increase the shots on target" at tackling these diseases and accelerate the drug development pipeline, potentially saving 5-10 years in the clinical trial process.
  • Semaglutide, an active ingredient in weight loss and diabetes drugs, is being investigated in clinical trials to see if it can help patients with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
  • Weight loss jabs are already being explored for their effectiveness in treating symptoms of both diseases.
  • The NHS spending watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), rejected the use of new Alzheimer's drugs lecanemab and donanemab for widespread use in the NHS due to the benefits being "too small" to justify the cost.

Statistics:

  • 30% of disease-modifying therapies in clinical trials for Parkinson's disease came through the International Linked Clinical Trials (iLCT) project.
  • 5-10 years could be saved in the clinical trial process by repurposing drugs to tackle diseases.
  • Semaglutide is being investigated in clinical trials for the Alzheimer's trial, with trial results expected to be published later this year.
  • The iLCT project has been successful in identifying disease-modifying therapies for Parkinson's, with around 30% of clinical trial candidates coming through this process.

Sources:

  • Cure Parkinson's
  • Alzheimer's Research UK
  • International Linked Clinical Trials (iLCT)
  • National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice)
  • NHS