Parkinson’s disease drug breakthrough

PRELIMINARY trials of a drug to treat Parkinson’s disease has produced encouraging results, according to a report released yesterday.

After a year of treatment, five sufferers showed marked improvements in their mobility with no significant side effects.

Scientists working on the hormone, glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), said it could be the most important treatment breakthrough in the disease since the discovery of L-dopa, the drug most commonly used to help patients.