A promising new drug developed to help treat Parkinson’s disease has entered phase two of clinical trials and offers potential relief to those suffering from the condition.
According to the Nashville Post, AP-472, developed by the Nashville-based pharmaceutical company Appello Pharmaceuticals, showed “promising results” in phase one trials.
The company is set to begin phase two of clinical trials. Patients with Parkinson’s disease will be administered the drug at a facility in Orlando, Florida, but the trial results are not expected to be published until early 2023.
AP-472 is meant to work in conjunction with a Levodopa, which is currently the most effective drug available for treating Parkinson’s.
Dopamine is a chemical in the brain that is used to send signals to parts of the body to make them move. People with Parkinson’s suffer from insufficient dopamine levels.
Levodopa can be converted into dopamine in the brain, making the drug quite successful at providing patients with symptom relief. Additionally, it may even slow the progression of Parkinson’s disease.
Levodopa does have its drawbacks, though. Its effectiveness tends to wane after several years of use. It can also cause hallucinations, difficulties sleeping, and dyskinesia, the involuntary and spastic muscle movements often associated with Parkinson’s disease.
Describing the neural effect of dyskinesia to NBC 5, Craig Lindsley, director of the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery, stated, “Parkinsonian tremors are due to too much brake and not enough gas. When people try to do personal movement, they get shaking because the brake is being applied as they’re trying to apply the gas.”
AP-472 may make Levodopa significantly more tolerable in this regard by “targeting [an] overactive synapse and bringing that gas and brake back into balance.”
Administered on its own at trial, AP-472 seems to relieve Parkinson’s symptoms like rigidity and immobility. There is also an increased frequency of that relief. In conjunction with Levodopa, researchers at Appello believe AP-472 will reduce the severity and frequency of dyskinesia, restoring more control of the body to those who have Parkinson’s disease.
More than 1 million people live with Parkinson’s in the United States.