Monday, January 10, 2011

New Fragile X drug?

A lot of buzz in the Fragile X world about this post on ScienceDaily:
The first drug to treat the underlying disorder instead of the symptoms of Fragile X, the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability, shows some promise, according to a new study published in the January issue of Science Translational Medicine. Researchers from Rush University Medical Center helped design the study and are now participating in the larger follow-up clinical trial.
Before we all break out the Champagne, there's this to consider:
The research team, led by Sebastien Jacquemont of Vaudois University in Switzerland in collaboration with Baltazar Gomez-Mancilla of Novartis, found no significant effects of treatment when the entire group of 30 patients was analyzed.
But:
However, in a subsequent analysis, seven patients who had a fully methylated gene, a gene that was fully shut down, presumably resulting in no FMR protein in the blood or brain, showed significant improvement in behavior, hyperactivity and inappropriate speech with the treatment compared to placebo.

"The treatment period in this pilot study was very short and longer treatment might have been needed to see improvement in the whole group of patients. Importantly, the drug was well-tolerated and there were no safety problems," said Berry-Kravis.

Quinn has the fully methylated gene, so this drug might be of particular benefit to him. We'll ask his doctor and his Fragile X specialist about it.

7 comments:

grandpa bill said...

I will keep my fingers crossed. Glad to know that you are linked up with the latest medical advances in this area.

Bjetsey said...

even better if they need you in switzerland to help them out... :)

1 Special Family said...

Someday very soon the medical field will be ahead of Fragile X.

michellenz said...

I have been following your blog occasionally for a year, and just wanted to say you are a pair of terrific parents and advocates for your boy.
My boy has classic Autism no speech yet. We just need to do the best by our little guys.

ST said...

Hi Michellenz,
Thanks for visiting! We don't blog here as often as we used to. Zac and I are both on facebook though...
Sarah

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