In a Phase 2 trial, Lixisenatide as adjunct therapy for early Parkinson’s disease showed promise.

The findings from the phase 2 LixiPark trial (NCT03439943), which were presented at the 2023 International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders, held August 27-31 in Copenhagen, Denmark, showed that participants with Parkinson disease (PD) treated with lixisenatide (Adlyxin, Sanofi), an investigational agent, had improvements in motor function. These findings suggest that the therapy, which is a glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP1

Following 1 year of treatment, patients given lixisenatide day to day showed less inability on the Development Issue Society-Brought together Parkinson’s Infection Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS III). The superior MDS-UPDRS scores among patients treated with lixisenatide revealed during the ON and OFF states appeared to have an advantage on the fundamental sickness state, and was not viewed as only an upgraded pharmacologic impact on the therapies currently being used.

“The study design is innovative, because it examines drug effects in both ON and OFF phases,” coauthor Christopher Goetz, MD, professor of neurological sciences and pharmacology at Rush University said in a statement.1 “Further, the high retention rates bespeak an impressive, centralized organization across the French centers conducting the research program. Larger international studies will definitively define this drug’s place in our treatment portfolio, but disease-modifying therapies are a goal that would open the prospect of treating the underlying disease as well as ameliorating symptoms.”

This randomized, twofold visually impaired, clinical preliminary assessed the impacts of 1 year of lixisenatide (20 μg/d) contrasted and the fake treatment on both engine and nonmotor PD side effects in patients at a beginning phase of the illness to survey its true capacity as a “sickness changing” impact. During the course of the study, both OFF and ON periods in which lixisenatide was administered concurrently with other antiparkinsonian medications were examined by the researchers. The essential end point was the change from benchmark in the MDS-UPDRS III score, assessed in the best ON condition in patients with early PD.

Currently, PD, a common neurodegenerative disease, is managed with symptomatic treatments that improve the disease’s motor and nonmotor functions. Regardless of the accessibility of these medicines, they don’t can dial back the underlining movement of the illness that makes extra engine and nonmotor incapacity.

The aggregation of misfolded alphasynuclein, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and neuroinflammation are just a few of the PD pathogenesis-related mechanisms. GLP-1R agonists approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes may have neuroprotective properties to further the potential of cerebral insulin resistance in neurodegenerative diseases, according to recent research from animal models of Parkinson’s disease.2 Additionally, a recent clinical pilot trial suggests that treatment with the GLP-1R agonist exenatide (AstraZeneca) for a year helped improve motor function in patients with moderate PD. GLP1-R agonists like ixisenatide and exenatide have measurable brain concentrations, making them a promising treatment for brain disorders like Parkinson’s disease (PD). The GLP1-R are indicated in the central nervous system in large numbers.

Lixisenatide is a well-tolerated GLP-1R agonist that can be given as a once-daily subcutaneous injection3. The treatment has increased hippocampal neurogenesis in preclinical models of obesity and diabetes, which has positive effects on learning and memory. Moreover, lixisenatide expands neurogenesis and diminishes microglial enactment in mice models for Alzheimer illness. Prominently, the treatment showed higher viability at enacting cerebrum GLP-1R contrasted and liraglutide and exenatide and furthermore exhibited more successful neuroprotection in various in-vitro models of neurodegeneration.