june article, Exenatide and the treatment of patients with Parkinson’s disease
 

i think this drug is derived from a lizard. it's a diabetes drug.
sorry if it's already been posted.
http://www.jci.org/articles/view/682...bda975bb0c7d68

It actually comes from the saliva of the Gila Monster. Of course, the version actually used in the medication Exenatide (Byetta) is synthetic.

This study was published a few months ago. I thought it was well done given the circumstances and difficulty of administering byetta. At least the researchers were right up front in discussing the drawbacks of the study design and potential placebo effect. In any case, I hope we don't have to wait years to see a more extensive follow-up. Right now, I'm not aware of any other ongoing clinical studies.

first posted in Sept, 2007!
 

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...ghlight=byetta

I recall problems with pancreatitis associated with Byetta. Administration is via injection.

One member with YOPD posted about using Byetta for control of diabetes without problems:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/sh...t=27738&page=2

Yes, there is an ongoing lawsuit against Amylin claiming Byetta causes pancreatic cancer. Same issue with Januvia. Although, I think most, if not all, of the Diabetes 2 drugs have some significant side effects.

There is a current clinical study which is actually recruiting now on Pioglitazone (Actos). I considered joining and met with a research team at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. I decided against it for several reasons, one of which was it's association with bladder cancer. Because of that risk I believe the study has to keep the use under one year.

Still, there seems to be some link with these drugs and PD. I believe you have posted on them several times. Frustrating that a lot of the early animal research took place a decade ago and we are still not close to having an answer.

Thanks,

Gary

Cost
 

The article mentions that the trial was cost effective. Does anyone know what the cost was ?

I wonder how it compares to double blinded studies.

follow-up one year later with patients
 

Looks like there is more news about this today. The follow-up shows that the clinical benefits to PD patients have persisted one year after the treatment concluded. In the article I read, the research team again acknowledges the fact that they didn't have a placebo group.

Anyway, it's interesting. I didn't know about the associations with cancer, though, until I read this thread....