Dopamine injection directly into the brain to treat Parkinson

“A-Dopamine” is the name of a new treatment against Parkinson’s disease. This would increase by 4.4 hours the time of “perfect control” per day, that is to say without abnormal movements, according to a study published in the journal Nature Medicine.

Inject dopamine directly into the brain of patients

Parkinson disease patients have a gradual degeneration of dopamine neurons in the cerebral level. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter involved in controlling many functions such as motor skills, motivation or even cognition.

Currently, there is no curative treatment for this disease. Management is based on the administration of dopamine to compensate for the effects of neurodegeneration and relieving motor symptoms.

And it is precisely this neurotransmitter which is the basis of the new treatment. But technological innovation comes from the mode of administration. With “A-Dopamine”, dopamine is injected directly into the brain of patients. According to a press release from inbrain, a biopharmaceutical company at the origin of the study, this technique makes it possible to place the neurotransmitter directly “in the right dose in the right place”, That is to say in striatumn, the brain area suffering from dopamine deficit.

The new study was conducted in two phases. During the first, scientists evaluated the feasibility and safety of the dopamine administration, directly by injection into the brain. During this phase I, no serious adverse effects were observed but some patients had nausea. Then, in phase II, the researchers measured the effectiveness of the treatment

Results: With “A-Dopamine”, patients with Parkinson’s disease increased their “perfect control” time per day by 4.4 hours, that is to say without abnormal movements. Scientists also observed that for 6.6 hours, patients had only light slowdown in their activities.

A treatment available by the end of the decade

“Beyond the demonstration made for Parkinson’s disease, these works also validate the concept of the cerebral infusion of personalized treatment in other neurological pathologies”Said teachers David Devos and Caroline Moreau, neurologists at the Lille University Hospital, behind this treatment.

Inbrain Pharma, which will soon start phase III of the clinical trial, hopes to be able to market this treatment “by the end of the decade by early access and for the very beginning of the next for full access”Concludes Doctor Véronique Foutel, president of Inbain Pharma.