The GLP-1 drug, exenatide, has no positive impact on the movement, symptoms or brain imaging of people with Parkinson’s, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.
The world’s largest and longest trial of exenatide in people with Parkinson’s disease was funded by the National Institute for Health & Care Research (NIHR) with support for sub-studies from Cure Parkinson’s and Van Andel Institute.
For their research, published in The Lancet, the team designed a randomised controlled phase 3 trial to definitively determine whether exenatide use was associated with any benefit in people with Parkinson’s and if it led to a slower rate of progression of the illness, after smaller studies had suggested the drug may be helpful.
194 people with Parkinson’s disease participated in the trial across six research…