New drug for Duchenne muscular dystrophy on the horizon
In the future, novel treatments for currently incurable diseases may become available through a Canadian internet pharmacy.
In the future, novel treatments for currently incurable diseases may become available through a Canadian internet pharmacy. These businesses sell many of the drugs available in the U.S. at significant discounts. One medication that is currently in development may become a possible treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
A team of researchers from England evaluated a drug known as AVI-4658, which previous studies had already tested for safety and efficacy. The scientists administered the medication to 19 DMD patients, aged 5 to 15 years, on a weekly basis.
Results showed that AVI-4658 was able to restore the function of the muscles' missing dystrophin protein in seven of the 19 patients.
Patients with DMD have a rapidly deteriorating form of muscular dystrophy that can confine them to a wheelchair by the age of 12, according to the National Institutes of Health. It can also cause fatigue, impaired motor skills, increasingly weak muscles and, in some cases, mental retardation. Boys are more likely to have symptoms of the disease, which occurs in one out of every 3,600 male babies.
By one's late teens or early twenties, a DMD patient may have a shorter life expectancy, according to the English research team.
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