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Researchers Developing New Drug to Stop Parkinson’s Disease

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According to Science Bulletin, researchers are developing new drugs that should slow down or block the progress of Parkinson’s disease.

A team of scientists at the University of Alabama in Birmingham focused on a common genetic marker of Parkinson’s called a “mutant LRRK2 kinase enzyme” and how it “contributes to the formation of inclusions in neurons.” Currently, drugs are being tested for use that would inhibit these enzymes from forming “aggregated alpha-synuclein protein.”

Basically, these experiments and developments will need to continue for any certainties, but the goal is to make a medicine that can halt or at least slow the movement of Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s is a slow-moving neurodegenerative brain disorder that occurs when one’s brain makes less and less of the neurotransmitter called dopamine. As a result, those with the disease lose the ability to fully control their body movements and even emotions. As of now, there is no known cure.

Men are more likely to have Parkinson’s with the total number of sufferers at somewhere between seven to ten million people around the world. Only one in four is diagnosed before the age of 50.

With such a large population impacted by the devastating disease, many hope that this new drug will prove successful for the sakes of the ill and their families.