[jeanb]

SAN DIEGO, Nov 26, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Ceregene, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, today reported clinical data from a double-blind, controlled Phase 2 trial of CERE-120 in 58 patients with advanced Parkinson's disease. The trial did not demonstrate an appreciable difference between patients treated with CERE-120 versus those in the control group. Both groups showed an approximate 7 point improvement in the protocol-defined primary endpoint (Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale- motor off score at 12 months), relative to a mean at baseline of approximately 39 points. Both groups had a substantial number of patients who demonstrated a meaningful clinical improvement from baseline. CERE-120 appeared to be safe and well tolerated.

(the entire article)

[aftermathman]

this has been a really bad year. Looks like Neurologix and Prosavin are our last gene therapy hopes.

Then what .....

Neil.

[Dottie]

As someone who participated in this trial am I disappointed? Yes Am I shocked? No. Will I take part in another trial? That I'd have to think about.

[jeanb]

Dottie, How did you do on CERE-120? I know the trial hasn't been unblinded, but did you feel like you got the treatment? Or did you think you got the placebo / sham surgery?

take care

[jeanb]

I know you felt you got the real thing. You are totally off meds now, right?

What does this mean for the rest of us?? Is our only chance for a new treatment to take part in a clinical trial - because even if it works (for some) the majority don't get benefit ... so it turns out that only a few "lucky ones" in the trial get something that might work?

Is Parkinson's so different with each person that these substances only work on a small subset of pwp?

just wondering...

[lurkingforacure]

Originally Posted by aftermathman

this has been a really bad year. Looks like Neurologix and Prosavin are our last gene therapy hopes.

Then what .....

Neil.

Don't give up hope, AMT in the Netherlands got Amgen's license for GDNF just this past September...and from what I have read that stuff DID work, for everyone who took it, just the delivery method needs tweaking, and perhaps dosage issues. I'm hoping it will move quickly since the actual protein itself has already gone through Amgen's trial.

[Dottie]

Originally Posted by jeanb

Dottie, How did you do on CERE-120? I know the trial hasn't been unblinded, but did you feel like you got the treatment? Or did you think you got the placebo / sham surgery?

take care

Hi Jean - At the time of my six month evaluation, I felt that I had
received the placebo/sham surgery. This was verified last week.

Dottie

[boann]

this may be old news to folks - i tune in so rarely i am a little out of touch, i am sure - but it appears that there are different types of mutations that cause different types of breast cancer - one mutation, HER2, which results in a particularly aggressive cancer, is responsible for 25% of breast cancer cases, and a drug, herceptin, has been developed to treat HER2 cancer specifically. in clinical trials, women treated with herceptin for one year had - depending on what other therapies they also had - a 33-52% lower rate of recurrence.

so, it is possible that what we call a single disease can arise from multiple sources, and it is possible to identify and treat some - and, in theory, eventually all - of those sources.

i believe this is where interest in pd subtypes comes from, in addition to the search for genetic clues.

[Jim091866]

Hi Dottie, I was reading about your experience in the clinical trial. Did this help you get off your meds? Thanks

[Dottie]

Hii Jim -
My meds haven't been reduced -- I'm taking the same meds I've taken for years.

Duri ng the trial I was given Lorazepan so that I could have an MRI.


So, no MRI/no Lorazepan.