News

Ingrezza treatment eases chorea regardless of sex, age: Trial data

Ingrezza (valbenazine), an approved treatment for chorea, or uncontrolled movements, related to Huntington’s disease, shows similar effectiveness among patients irrespective of factors like sex, age, or disease severity, according to a new analysis of data from a Phase 3 clinical trial. Moreover, a separate data analysis from…

Polymer-based treatment slows Huntington’s disease onset in mice

Researchers have developed a protein-like polymer — a large, string-like molecule composed of small repeating building blocks — that was able to slow the onset of Huntington’s disease in a mouse model. In the mice, the protein-like polymer prevented the clumping of misfolded huntingtin protein that drives nerve cell…

Alnylam launches Phase 1 trial of ALN-HTT02 for Huntington’s

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals has launched a Phase 1 clinical trial to test the safety and pharmacological properties of its treatment candidate ALN-HTT02 in adults with Huntington’s disease, the company announced as part of a financial update. “We [have] made great strides with our pipeline, … initiating a Phase 1…

Enzyme may be key in driving Huntington’s motor symptoms

Higher levels of an enzyme called GST02 in the most affected neurons in Huntington’s disease could underlie early increases in the brain-signaling chemical dopamine that are believed to drive Huntington’s motor symptoms, according to a mouse study. Scientists had previously uncovered that a deficiency in a signaling pathway called…

FDA funds works into wearable sensors for early Huntington’s

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is supporting financially a study into how well wearable sensors measure two early signs of Huntington’s disease, which could be of use to clinical trials of potential treatments. The funding comes from the agency’s Digital Health Technologies for Drug Development…

Impaired DNA repair may contribute to Huntington’s: Study

Unlike its healthy counterpart, the mutated version of the huntingtin protein that drives Huntington’s disease may keep nerve cells from repairing their damaged DNA, causing them to die, a study showed. Specifically, the mutated protein failed to stimulate the production of poly ADP-ribose, known as PAR — a molecule…