Columns

Asklepios Biopharmaceutical (AskBio) has launched a first-in-human clinical trial testing AB-1001 — an experimental gene therapy designed to modulate cholesterol metabolism in the brain — in people with Huntington’s disease. The trial is currently recruiting participants at a site in Paris. It is open to adults, ages 18…

An encouraging number of clinical trials are currently recruiting, or soon will be, for people affected by Huntington’s disease (HD). I recently wrote about the CAP score, a mathematical calculation that many HD clinical studies use to find participants who are at comparable points along their HD…

In 2018, my wife, Jill, was diagnosed as gene-positive for Huntington’s disease (HD). In the months leading up to her diagnosis, she’d begun experiencing depression and anxiety, as well as other HD symptoms, which started her down the long road of finding helpful medications. At…

Subtle changes in speech are present before obvious symptoms of Huntington’s disease appear, and could potentially be a quantitative biomarker for the neurodegenerative disorder, a small study found. The changes in speaking identified among Huntington’s patients were linked to age and an individual’s number of disease-causing CAG repeats —…

In a recent column, I shared that I was battling a serious infection, which led to a four-day hospital stay. My main concern was about my wife, Jill, who is gene-positive for Huntington’s disease (HD), and how frustrating it was for me to be sick when it’s…

A Phase 1/2a clinical trial testing VO659, Vico Therapeutics’ experimental therapy, in people with Huntington’s disease and other hereditary neurological disorders caused by a similar type of mutation has dosed the first patient. “We are encouraged by the continued progress of our development program and very pleased to…

“Do you ever feel like Huntington’s disease [HD] is the villain in the movie of our lives?” my wife, Jill, asked me recently. My wife and I live in a neighborhood with many trees and little light. As I arrived home after work one day last month, darkness greeted…

The last patient has completed the final visit in the Phase 3 PROOF-HD trial testing oral pridopidine for Huntington’s disease. That means that the study’s main placebo-controlled part is done, according to Prilenia Therapeutics, pridopidine’s developer, which sponsored the nearly 18-month-long trial. Now, the first data are…

I am sitting up in a hospital bed, trying to write this week’s column. I have an IV in my left arm that is attached to a bag full of antibiotics and steroids. As I start to bring my hand to where the needle is held in place by medical…

Thirteen years ago, my good friend Matt Ellison and I started to form what is now the Huntington’s Disease Youth Organization (HDYO). Matt and I both grew up with a parent who had Huntington’s disease (HD), so our mission with the nonprofit was to support, educate, and…