Cancer drug reverses PD systems study status?
 

Has anyone seen any news of a Phase 2 study using Nilotinib?

“To my knowledge, this study represents the first time a therapy appears to reverse — to a greater or lesser degree depending on stage of disease — cognitive and motor decline in patients with these neurodegenerative disorders,” says Pagan. “But it is critical to conduct larger and more comprehensive studies before determining the drug’s true impact.”

http://www.themarketbusiness.com/201...eimers-disease

The researchers are hoping to begin a new trial in 2016. Novartis has committed to supplying the drugs, but the team has not yet secured the additional funding required. The last I heard was they are looking for $3 million and have secured commitments for about $1 million so far. I also heard that they have been turned down by some common funding sources because they have not actually published their previous findings or reported actual data from the study. Other than what we have seen in the media reports, there has been no professional data release. We do need to keep in mind that this was just a small, open-label, study. I have no idea why the trial team hasn't followed normal protocols in data dissemination. I know several funding sources who have backed away because of this even though the science seems to make sense and the reports they released were intriguing.

Thanks much. I hope there are no politics involved in this. The researcher Moussa has published on this for animal models before

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23787811

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23666528

Another cite:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24786396

Sure hope they get funding!

I honestly didn't get any sense of this being a political issue. Those that I've spoken with are excited about the science and the potential success of the drug. Yet, everyone seems confused as to the limited amount of information which has been released. The pre-clinical trials are old news in which we're all familiar. What I would like to see is some hard data from the open-label study. Not just anecdotal reports in a newspaper. I do believe the team has, or will be starting, a crowdsourcing attempt at fundraising. So, if you really want to help them, I guess you can donate and get others to do so also. I was originally going to be more active in helping, but I've stepped aside, like others, because of the lack of information. I do hope they cure this issue soon and move forward.

Thanks for the great info. Can you send me contact info for the folks involved in funding the study?