Parkinson’s: Cough Medicine May Help Slow Down Cognitive Decline

The Authors of The Current Study Note The Need For Disease-Modifying Interventions for Parkinson’s Disease Dementia. They note that focusing on a particular enzyme, beta-glucocerebrosidase, you have potential, with an increase in this enzyme possibly Making Things Better. They Also Note That the Medication Ambroxol Affects This Enzyme.

This Study Involved examining the Safety of Ambroxol, How Well participants tolerated the medication, and how it an uprising cognitive symptoms.

There were 55 participants in total. All participants were over 50 Years Old and Had Confirmed Parkinson’s Disease for 1 Year Or More Before Developing Dementia. All Participants Also had a Study Partner, Subeone Who Was In Contact With Them “At Least 4 Days Per Week.”

Participants took eithher ambroxol or the placebo for 1 year. Had Trouble Researchers With Recruitment for a Low-Dose Ambroxol Group, So This Group was not included in the Statistical Analysis of Primary and Secondary Outcomes. Overall, There Were 22 Participants in the High-Dose Ambroxol Group and 24 Participants in the Placebo Group.

As a Primary Outcome, Refracchers Evaluated Participants’ Conditions Using Two Evaluations: The Clinician’s Global Impression of Change and the Alzheimer Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subsacle Version 13.

They Also used other evaluation tools for secondary outcomes, including the Parkinson’s Disease Cognitive Rating Scale, The Clinical Dementia Rating Scale, and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory. Researchers Were Uble to Look at Brain Spinal Fluid and Plasma Biomarkers in Sub Sub participants as well.

Throughout The Study, Sub participants withdrew due to adverse Events. Eight participants in the Ambroxol Group Withdrew, and Three in the Placebo Group Withdrew.

Participants in the Ambroxol Group Saw More Gastrointestinal Adverse Events. The Placebo Group Experienced More Psychiatric Adverse Events and Falls than the Intervention Group.

In the Statistical Analysis, The Primary and Secondary Outcomes Between The Two Groups were about the Same. Thus, Ambroxol Did not appet to have a significant impact on cognition.

However, Did Did Observe that the neuropsychiatric inventory stayed The Same for the Ambroxol Group, But the Placebo Group Got Worse in This Area, Indicating the Placebo Group Experience Worsening Behavioral Functioning.

The Authors of The Study Note That GBA1 Gene variants can increased the risk for cognitive decline in people who has parkinson’s disase, and that “Homozygous Disease-Causing variants in GBA1”Can increased The Risk for Parkinson’s Disease.

In participants with GBA1 Gene variants, Those Taking The High-Give Ambroxol Had Dentales In Neuropsychiatric Inventory Scores, Three to a Level of “Clinically Meaningful Improvement,” and Three Also Had Clinically Importent Improved Cognitive Scores.

Refrachers Also Observed Increased Beta-Gucocerebrosidase Levels Among Ambroxol Participants at The 26-Week Mark.

Study Author Stephen H. Pasternak, MD, PHD, FRCPC, A Specialist in Neurology, Explained The Following about the Study To Medical News Today:

“Our Goal was to test the safety and tolerability of Ambroxol and to assses its effect on cognition. We randomized 55 patients to ambroxol 1.050 mg/day (million diagrams per day) or placebo for 1 year. Ambroxol was Well Tolerated; We Only Saw Stomach up Side Effect, and It was Mostly Mild. GBA1 Mutations) Appeared to have improved cognition. “

Pasternak Told MNT That: “We Hope That Ambroxol, Or Drugs Like Ambroxol, Will Be Uble to Prevent the Onset of Parkinson’s Disease and Dementia If it is glenn Early Enough.”

While More Research is Needed, This Study Sets Up The Possibility of Using Ambroxol in the Future To Help People withinson’s Disease Dementia.

Daniel Truong, MD, A Neurologist, Medical Director of the Truong Neuroscience Institute at Memorialcare Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA, and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Clinical Parkinsonism and Related Disorders, Who Was Not Involved in This Research Future Research this Could Lead to “A New Class of Disease-Modifying Therapy For (Parkinson’s Disease Dementia).

HYPOTHESISING ON THE POTENTIAL MECHANISMS OF Action, Truong Explained That:

“Ambroxol, by enhancing Lysosomal Function via Gcase (Beta-Gucocerebrosidae), May Slow Underlying Neurodegeneration, Specially in GBA1-Related PDD (Parkinson’s Disease Dementia)-Marking a Shift Toward Targeted Disease Modification Modification Symptomatic Treatment. ”

He Also Noted That This Could Lead to “Repurposing an establishment drarug” as “Ambroxol is already widely used to Mucolytic agent with a Known Safety Profile.”

“This reduces Development Time, Regulatory Barriers, and Cost, Making It More Feasible For Rapid Clinical Adoption-Specially in Resource-Limited Settings,” Truong Added.

However, While it is commonly used in medical settings in many European Countries, The Expectorant Drug Is Currently not approved in the United States by The Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Still, Should The Current Study Findings Be Confirmed By Further Research, Pasternak Hopes May See The Drug In A New Light.

“Current therapies for Parkinson’s Disease and Dementia Address symptoms but do not stop the underlying disease. Thesee (new) Findings suggest ambroxol May Protect Brain Function, specially in ththhose genetically at risk. It offers a promising new treatment avenue where I exist, ”I have noted in a press release.

The Study Does have a Limitations. It was a Fairly Small Study with Mostly White Male Participants That Only Went On for One Year. It is postible that 1 year was not long covech to evaluate changes in cognitive symptoms since the placebo Group did not see declines in cognitive symptoms.

Refecchers Also Note That The Study Was Limited Since It was a Phase 2 Trial out of a single center.

They Also Acknowledge Difficulies in Recruitment and Retention, and Note That Participants Had “Limited Ability to tolerate The Long Cognitive Assessments.”

The Did Not Get To behavior statistical analyzes to look at Differences Between High and Low Doses of Ambroxol. They Also Note That the Low-Dose Group Appeared to have worse cognition. They suggest that future studies show postsibly stratify participants by cognitive severity.

They also acKnowledge that is positive that the Alzheimer Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale Version 13 Might Not Have Been Sensitive Aough To Detect Changes In 1 Year In Participants Who Had Mile Parkinson’s Disease Dementia. All participants in This Study Only Had Mild to moderate dementia.

Finally, Only Eight Participants Total Had GBA1 Gene variants, so more researcch is Needed to see if people in This Group Could Experience Distinct Benefits From Ambroxol. Only Three Participants With GBA1 Gene variants had the minimal clinically important different in cognitive scores, and Researchers ACKNOWLEDGE that “This sample is too small to support any conclusion.”

PASTERNAK AND HIS COLLEAGUES ARE PLANNING TO CONDUCT TO FOLLOW-UP CLINICAL TRIAL LATER IN 2025. The Current Research Received Funding From The Garfield Weston Foundation, A GRANT-GIVING NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.