The first clinical trial explores if the drug found in magic fungi could help treat Parkinson’s disease has shown promising results.
It marks the first time that a psychedelic has been tested on individuals with a neurodegenerative disorder.
Parkinson’s disease, an incurable progressive brain disorder caused by the death of nerve cells in the brain that produce dopamine, leads to problems of movement and speech that worsen over time.
Now, in a new historical study, the 12 patients, with light to moderate parkinson disease and an average age of 63 years, have all brought improvements in mood, cognition and motor function, with such advantages that last for months.
In addition to psychotherapy, the participants received a dose of 10 mg psilocybin, followed by 25 mg two weeks later.
While the side effects of nausea, anxiety and high blood pressure were noted during follow-up after dosage sessions, none of all required medical care.
Since no obvious sign of damage was noted, a more important test involving up to 100 additional patients was also approved, with the main author of the study, Dr. Ellen Bradley, of the University of California in San Francisco, saying that the results were “ far beyond what we expected ”.
The first clinical trial explores if the drug found in magic fungi could help treat Parkinson’s disease has shown promising results. It marks the first time that a psychedelic has been tested on individuals with a neurodegenerative disorder
Parkinson’s disease affects those like the star of “Back To The Future” Michael J Fox, 63 years old (photo) who announced last week that he should make an extraordinary return to the theater after almost three decades of life with Parkinson’s disease, which crosses the United States
Dr. Bradley added that even if he had been “unexpected” for improving the motor function and the cognitive performance to observe, these are still “preliminary results” and stressed that it was too early for the conclusions to be drawn.
The possible reasons behind the advantages of magic fungi include its ability to have an impact on brain inflammation and therefore stimulate neuroplasticity (brain capacity to reorganize and create new neural connections).
Describing the results, which did not show any `serious side effects ” despite a high dose of psilocybin as” incredibly encouraging “, Dr. Bradley said that” reassuring data “now allows them to move forward with a more important test of hallucinogen.
The researcher also hopes that he will help the current effort to provide additional treatment to Parkinson’s disease, which currently affects up to 153,000 people across the United Kingdom.
This figure is expected to reach around 172,000 by 2030, due to population growth and aging, Parkinson’s neurological condition for the fastest growth in the world.
Describing the results, which have not shown no “ serious secondary effect ” despite a high dose of psilocybin as “ incredibly encouraging ‘
This affects those like the star of “Back To The Future”, Michael J Fox, 63, who announced last week that he should make an extraordinary return to action after almost three decades of life with Parkinson’s disease, which explodes in the United States.
Having been diagnosed at just 29 years old, Mr. Fox managed to hide his illness in the eyes of the public for seven years, before starting to appear on the screen less often because he had more trouble walking, speaking and controlling the tremors.
Speaking of the “ Neatser Sichet Stat, a wider test, Dr. Bradley has added: ‘We will be able to test the effectiveness of psilocybine therapy for people with parkinson and collect multimodal biological data – brain stimulation, imaging, blood tests – which will help us to determine exactly how the psilocybine Impact on the different aspects of Parkinson ”.
The next trial should be funded both by an anonymous donor and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for the search for Parkinson.
