Huntington’s disease

PubMed, the Internet portal of biomedical and life sciences literature, indexed an interesting article, entitled Drug discovery and development for Huntington’s disease – an orphan indication with high medical need (IDrugs. 2008 Sep;11(9):653-60.). Authors are Heitz F La Rosa S Gonzalez-Couto E et al., from the Siena Biotech SpA, 53100 Siena, Italy. Huntington’s disease (HD) is a rare neurodegenerative disorder that progressively destroys the mental capacity and motor control of patients. This loss of motor control results in abnormal body movements (chorea) – the hallmark of HD. Given that no disease-modifying therapy for HD exists and that available symptomatic treatments are not highly efficacious, the medical need for this ‘orphan’ disease remains high. The number of compounds that are undergoing discovery and development for the treatment of HD has increased significantly in recent years, spurred by legislative incentives for orphan drug development and by support from non-profit foundations. Thus, hope exists for patients with HD that efficacious medicines will become available. To access the full abstract of the article, click here.