Doctors and patients excited as UI researchers start trials to treat Parkinson’s – kwwl.com

Posted: Published on November 12th, 2019

This post was added by Alex Diaz-Granados

IOWA CITY, Iowa (KWWL) Dottie Armens was diagnosed with Parkinsons in 2007 and now leads a support group in Iowa City for others fighting the disease.

I think people realize theyre not alone that way, Armens said. Being able to talk to somebody else who knows what youre going through is helpful.

Dr. Nandakumar Narayanan says its hard to see his Parkinsons patients get worse each visit.

A little bit of their humanity is going to be chipped away. And thats incredibly frustrating, Narayanan said.

He thinks soon, that may change.

Doctors at the University of Iowa started collecting prospective data this week on a drug that could stunt the effects of Parkinsons disease.

A collaborating doctor in China noticed patients on the drug Terazosin, for enlarged prostate, were not seeing any decline in their Parkinsons, as a result of increased cell activity. They then tested the hypotheses with animal models.

After getting access to a larger data base and confirming their findings with over 3,000 cases, theyre now testing the drug in a double-blind experiment to make sure its safe for non-male patients and more.

Thats when we really got excited. Because it looked like (it was happening) not only in animals but in real life people, too, Dr. Michael Welsh said, an internal medicine professor at UI.

Doctors are still looking for participants for phase one of their trials, and are looking for funding for phase two. To find out more, contact Dr. Nandakumar Narayanan.

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Doctors and patients excited as UI researchers start trials to treat Parkinson's - kwwl.com

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