A known anti-histamine shows promise in preventing glutamate excitotoxicity and preserving normal levels of acetylcholine.
So what about Huntington's disease?
In July 2008, Medivation published the results of their Phase II trial of Dimebon in persons with HD. The trial was done in cooperation with the Huntington Study Group and enrolled 90 participants with mild to moderate HD for three months. The results showed statistically significant improvement in cognition as measured by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). This is a very exciting result because there is currently no treatment that has been shown to improve cognition in HD. Additionally, Dimebon was well-tolerated, showing very few side effects.
The next step will hopefully be approval from the FDA for a Phase III trial, which would enroll many more individuals and run for a longer time period. You can stay updated on the progress of both Alzheimer's and Huntington's trials by checking press releases on the Medivation web-site http://www.medivation.net/html/page.news.html or by returning to the HOPES site in the future when new results are published. We'll do our best to keep you posted!
We hope you enjoyed this section of the HOPES website. To email this article to a friend, please click here. To leave feedback for the HOPES team, click here. Make sure to specify which article you're referring to.
-F. Clum, 12/03/08
For further reading:
Bachurin S., Bukatina, E., Lermontova, N., Tkachenko, S., Afanasiev, A., Grigoriev, V., Grigorieva, I., Ivanov, YU., Sablin, S. & Zefirov, N.: Antihistamine Agent Dimebon As a Novel Neuroprotector and a Cognition Enhancer. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 939: 425-435, 2001 This scientific study includes information on many aspects of Dimebon's potential use in Alzheimer's disease. It is easy to get bogged down in details and scientific language but if you stick to the introduction, results, and discussion you will find it informative.
Medivation (September 21, 2006). Medivation's Dimebon Meets All Five Efficacy Endpoints in Phase 2 Alzheimer's Disease Study. Press Release. Click here to read this article. This is an easy-to-read press release by the company that owns rights to develop and test Dimebon as a neuroprotective drug in the US.
Medivation (October 19, 2006). Medivation Begins Phase 1-2a Trial of Dimebon in Huntington's Disease. Press Release. Click here to read this article. Another easy-to-read press release from Medivation announcing the beginning of the Dimebon trial for Huntington's Disease.
Medivation (June 11, 2007). Medivation's Dimebon(TM) Maintains Statistically Significant Benefit on All Five Efficacy Endpoints in Alzheimer's Disease Trial After One Year of Therapy. Press Release. Click here to read this article. The Medivation press release announcing results of the year-long Dimebon trial for Alzheimer's.
Medivation (July 7, 2008) Medivation Announces Positive Top-Line Results From Phase 2 Dimebon Study in Huntington's Disease. Press Release. Click here to read this article. The Medivation press release announcing results of the Phase II trial in Huntington's Disease (HD).
Last Modified: 05/22/2009
An educational product of HOPES, not to be used in place of medical care. For more information about HOPES, click on the Logo.
To contact HOPES with comments or questions, click here.
