A potential new treatment for Parkinson’s comes up short but offers a glimmer of hope for younger patients.
A new trial investigating whether GLP-1 agonists, more popularly known under their brand names Ozempic and Victoza, offered hints that these injectable medications might help relieve tremors and other movement problems in younger participants.
The Study May Have Been Too Short
The research team hypothesized that GLP-1 agonists could help reduce neuroinflammation in the brains of individuals with early-stage Parkinson’s disease. This inflammation is caused when microglia, specialized immune cells that support neurons, become overactivated and dysfunctional. Since the brain has receptors for GLP-1 and the medication has anti-inflammatory effects, the scientists theorized it might help calm the microglial response.
A.C. Dahnke
Author
A.C. Dahnke is a freelance writer and editor residing in California. She has covered community journalism and health care news for nearly a decade, winning a California Newspaper Publishers Award for her work.
