Marisa Wexler, MS,  senior science writer—

Reduced volumes of gray matter in certain regions of the brain are tied to poorer quality of life in people with Huntington’s disease, a new study reports. The study, “Brain, cognitive, and physical disability correlates of decreased quality of life in patients with Huntington’s disease,” was…

Due to possible side effects, dosing is being paused in the Phase 2 VIBRANT-HD clinical trial of oral branaplam (LMI070) in adults with Huntington’s disease. A scheduled assessment found “early signs” that “branaplam might be causing peripheral neuropathy,” a condition marked by pain or numbness in the extremities caused by damage…

Long-term trials of interventions to promote physical activity for people with Huntington’s disease are feasible, with a “nested trial” approach that assigns some patients already taking part in an observational study to an activities group while others serve as controls, a study reported. The yearlong effort was designed as a…

Levels of neurofilament light chain, a marker of nerve cell degeneration, are increased in children with juvenile-onset Huntington’s disease (JOHD), according to a new study. Results also suggest that levels of this protein, known as NfL, are correlated in these young patients both with disease severity and damage to…

Most young people at risk of developing Huntington’s disease are not given information about the disorder at the time they’re told about the risk and end up seeking it on their own online, according to a new study. “This study is the first to take an in-depth look at…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has designated valbenazine an orphan drug as a potential treatment to control the involuntary, jerky movements known as chorea in people with Huntington’s disease. Orphan drug status is given to therapies with the potential to improve medical care for rare disease. It…

The experimental therapy pepinemab can aid cognition in people with early Huntington’s disease who showed signs of cognitive impairment when they started treatment, new analyses from the Phase 2 SIGNAL clinical trial indicate. Findings were presented at the virtual American Academy of Neurology 2022 Annual Meeting in the poster, “…

The European Commission is expected to propose a new governing framework for health data next month, called the European Health Data Space (EHDS), with the aim of connecting national health systems to facilitate secure and efficient transfer of data across systems in different European nations. The move is expected to…

Treatment with oral valbenazine, a dopamine-modulating medicine, significantly eased the jerky, involuntary movements of chorea after as little as two weeks for Huntington’s disease patients in a completed Phase 3 clinical trial. More study participants given valbenazine also reported an improvement in their overall health status than did those randomized to…

Mutations in the HTT gene, which cause Huntington’s disease, lead to abnormalities in development as early as two weeks after conception, a new study indicates. The study, “Huntingtin CAG expansion impairs germ layer patterning in synthetic human 2D gastruloids through polarity defects,” was published in Development.