Promise for Parkinson's. (updates).(FDA approves human use of gene therapy to treat the disease)

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the first-ever human use of gene therapy to treat the devastating brain degeneration disorder known as Parkinson's disease.

In a clinical trial slated to begin this month, genes that manufacture a neurochemical called gamma-amino-butyric acid (GABA) will be injected into the brains of 12 willing, late-stage patients who have exhausted standard treatment methods. Researchers hope the treatment will calm tremors and slow progression of the disease. The gene transfer technique is a promising therapy, but extensive human clinical trials will be needed before it's ready for general use on all Parkinson's patients. However, that doesn't leave patients without other immediate options.

A second Parkinson's study, appearing in the October 2002 issue of the Archives of Neurology, concluded that a familiar dietary supplement retards progression of the disease-unlike conventional treatments, which ease symptoms but are not believed to affect the underlying disease process.

The naturally occurring compound known as co-enzyme Q10--or CoQ10--may ...