The BBC are reporting [1] a brain "'wonder-drug'", well two, actually:
- trazodone, already used for depression;
- DBM, a cancer drug.

Based on worm and mouse models, and in vitro human studies, these drugs appear to slow down the progression of a number of neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's.

I'm very aware that I've recently contributed to a thread that warns of the danger of "hype". So, although we can really hope that these drugs will substantially slow the progression of PD on humans, I think the chances are low.

Reference

[1] Experts excited by brain 'wonder-drug' - BBC News

John

Patient: That medicine didn't help at all. I thought you said it was a wonder drug.

Doctor: It was, but now we know.

This is an example of EXACTLY how the media over-hypes research. Did they really need to call them "wonder-drugs"? No, but by doing so, they get more attention. Any of us who have been following the research over the years can tell you about dozens of "wonder-drugs" that have been tossed aside when human research has failed.

Or

Patient: That medicine didn't help at all. I thought you said it was a wonder drug.

Doctor: It is, but unfortunately you're not a rodent or a worm. Trust me, Mickey and Minnie aren't worrying anymore.....

Unless I'm mistaken, this is an old drug that is now being scripted as a sleep aid and/or for depression. In our experience, it has helped neither!

I would think that it would be easy enough to look at the people that have taken Trazodone over the past decades to see if they developed dementia, that is real-world results, instead of what may happen in a test tube. Frustrating.

Yes, it is an old drug which has been used for Alzheimer disease.
http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1995-30502-001
I think that the good news is that human tests may start very soon and it will take 2 to 3 years to get the results?
Drug already prescribed to millions of Brits 'may protect against Alzheimer’s'
I have been taking 300 mg Trazadone at night for the last 18 months and found it very effective for putting me to sleep.
I can't tell whether it has any effect on my PD or memory. I noted they used very high dose in the reseach paper so 300 mg may not be effective!
So I agree with all that it is not a "wonder drug" BUT LET US KEEP HOPING!!!
Imad

I have been taking Trazodone 50 mg for about 25 years for sleep.

The latter part of this paper mentions Trazodone a lot. It describes it as a serotonin antagonist and reuptake inhibitor. Sort of what, I think, the"miracle/expensive" drug Nuplazid does for PD psychosis. I will be talking to my wife's Dr's about this.

Repurposed drugs targeting eIF2α-P-mediated translational repression prevent neurodegeneration in mice | Brain | Oxford Academic

Trazodone is an antidepressant in the serotonin antagonist and reuptake inhibitor class, which has additional anxiolytic and hypnotic effects. It has been shown to reduce the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) in Alzheimer’s disease (Lopez-Pousa et al., 2008) and in FTD (Lebert et al., 2004), but no studies have looked at the progression of neurodegeneration with trazodone treatment. Although its pharmacological actions in humans are not fully understood, it is thought to have more than one mechanism of therapeutic action, making it a multifunctional drug. It is the first antidepressant with a dual mechanism of action involving inhibition of the serotonin transporter (SERT) and antagonism of the serotonin type 2 (5-HT2) receptor, producing its antidepressant effect by blocking SERT, and increasing serotonin concentrations in the brain. Trazodone exerts antagonistic properties against α1- and α2-adrenergic receptors and histamine H1 receptors, with minimal anticholinergic effects (Monti et al., 1986; Stahl, 2009). Trazodone has previously shown benefit in models of Huntington’s disease, where it improved mitochondrial respiratory complex activity (Kumar et al., 2011) and Morris water maze performance (Kumar et al., 2010)

Because of a problem with sleeping, my husband's doctor prescribed Trazadone 50mg. to help. It took 4 days on this medication to produce halucinations of spiders, bugs, and dead people. Quickly got rid of that prescription and was placed on Belsomra 20mg. (which was supposed to cause no side effects). It only took 2 day to get the same results as the Trazadone. Needless to say, we'd rather have no sleep than to have dead people and bugs! Just be aware that what works wonders for one, doesn't work at all for another.