AAV-GAD / Sending Genes into the Brain [Neurologix]
 

Sending Genes into the Brain
More-invasive therapies show promise for treating Parkinson's.

MIT/Technology Review, By Emily Singer, Wednesday, May 20, 2009
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/22675/

The brain has long presented a special challenge to drug developers: tightly enclosed by the blood brain barrier, it remains locked to many therapies delivered orally or intravenously.

However, thanks to more-precise methods of targeting the brain, advances in brain imaging, and the growing popularity of implanted stimulators for treating neurological diseases, the brain is no longer off limits. This is highlighted by a number of new clinical trials involving Parkinson's patients, in which a therapeutic gene or another treatment is delivered directly to a specific part of the brain.