In case anyone has missed the news, pfizer are very interested in gdnf, Pfizer are the swines trying to squeeze every last cent out of viagra.if those highly intelligent unscrupulous bastards think they are on a winner then its damned good news for us. there is a real possibility of a treatment to stop PD progression. on the other hand it depends how far you have progressed by the time it is available.....
Hello Turnip,
Its a dark dangerous bloated greedy industry Medicine, I have no doubt there will be some boffin sitting in a dark dusty poorly lit corner of some remote medical research establishment and in his hand he will have a petri dish,his eyes will be spinning in a similar way as does the slot machines in the peacefull tranquil city Las Vegas, for he has the Holy Grail of Neurology, a proven cure for PARKINSONS , ALZEIMERS MOTOR NEURONE, a cure that would give blessed relief to millions,but wait he has been strictly forbidden to allow this desperately needed discovery become known to the Medical Journals and the media, for if it becomes common knowledge there will be a vicous murderous head to head the giants of the the Medicinal world, and the value of the contents of the small dish will climb skyward, as I SAID HIS EYES greed he has contacts, of course the £5 000 000 is already in the bank but he will sit on that for now,the offers are already far exceding the cash already paid, oh he will keep the wonderous discovery secret for a few years the fact that undescribible suffering world wide could be eliminated virtually overnight, will never enter his mind, who was it that said GREED IS GOOD, and THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS SOCIETY, let them eat cake.
Fiction of course Turnip?? Your Friend Fed
Dr alan whone from frenchay hospital is conducting the gdnf ,i think it was tested yrs ago in the states but was shelved ,now it is delivering the gdnf straight to the brain via a port hole connected to tubes that go direct to the part of brain. i think they are still asking for people to conduct this ,if you goggle gdnf alan whone you can find out more
I agree that the GDNF trial is one of our best hopes and Pfizer's apparent interest is a good sign. Dr Alan Whone gave an excellent description of the trial at a Parkinson's UK event last year. Watch the video here:
http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/content/clinical-trials-and-parkinsons-what-does-it-take-find-cure
This study is still recruiting you can find details of what is involved by visiting the aptly titled list of uk research studies page at:-
http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/content/take-part-parkinsons-research-list-uk-studies
EF
thanks Fed, Gus and EF. it was worthwhile seeing the videos again arent uk scientists the nicest in the world.
i would just like to stress the huge difference between a clinical trial and a clinical trial + pfizer.
what does it take to cure parkinsons? money. not just money for funding research but the lure of big profits. companies like pfizer rule the world, if they want it to happen it will. they can make the US government roll over and have its tummy tickled.
thats why i am 10 times more hopeful for this treatment than i would have been last week. as long, as the video says, we still have live cells to give a kick up the bum with gdnf. hopefully pfizer will insist on an aggressive timetable.
must admit i dont understand why it is dripped into the putamen rather than the substantia nigra?
Based on my experience last year at the World Parkinson Congress UK Scientists are fantastic. To name just a few ....
Professor Roger Barker is speaking at the Parkinson's UK research supporters conference in York in November,
Professors Ray Chaudhuri and Tony Schapira spoke at the research supporters conference last year,
Professor David Burn has just been appointed Clinical Director of Parkinson's UK
I could go on. These guys and their teams deserve all the support we can give them
EF
I don't want to be negative, but I don't see GDNF as a cure for Parkinson's disease. At least not by itself. Why ? 1 or 2 years ago there was research published about neurotrophic factors. Neurotrophic factors don't work in an environment with misfolded alpha-synuclein. The misfolded alpha-synuclein blocks the creation of new neurons. I don't remember anymore why, but I do remember this was the case. Therefore, I see GDNF as a cure for people with stroke or brain damage, but not for people with neurodegenerative diseases. If the misfolded alpha-synuclein can be removed or get its original form back, then I think GDNF might help people to regenerate lost neurons. Therefore, I think GDNF by itself cannot cure this disease.
What strikes me is that I am 100 % sure that scientist are very well aware about the research done about misfolded alpha-synuclein blocking the brain's plasticity, but despite that, they are hyping GDNF. They are very well aware that people with PD have misfolded alpha-synuclein and before continuing testing this on human with PD, they should first demonstrate it works on an animal model with misfolded alpha-synuclein ... something which was already done with no succes. So I guess they just want to do some experiments on human lab rats.
Oh wait, I just got a new insight about the result of this experiment. My guess is that this will be the result of this experiment: "Unfortunately, GDNF hasn't show to cure PD. But the used delivery method has been shown to be safe and effective and can be used in future on human beings."
Exactly, MisterX. Your final paragraph sums it up. There is evidence that GDNF does help a lot in the improvement of symptoms. That is why they have felt it worth putting a lot of money into researching it further with improved techniques.
Clearly it is not a complete cure, but there is more work going on in that direction, especially that aimed at removing pathogenic forms of alpha-synuclein (see a previous post of mine at http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/comment/140095#comment-140095)
I'm aware this trial is almost as much about the delivery method as the effect of GDNF being delivered more precisely than before. This doesn't concern me nearly 10 times as much as seeing my symptoms getting worse. I'm going through the screening process right now.