Can weight loss drugs help Parkinson's and Alzheimer's patients?

Charities join forces to 'repurpose' medicines to tackle diseases

- 

SCIENTISTS are to examine whether drugs that are already in use could be repurposed to treat the symptoms of both Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's in a new collaboration which aims to discover novel treatments at pace.

Experts say that by repurposing drugs, they can 'increase the shots on target' at tackling the diseases.

This method of drug development could also reduce the time patients are left waiting for new treatments by up to 10 years, they added.

It comes after the NHS spending watchdog rejected the use of new Alzheimer's drugs lecanemab and donanemab for widespread use in the health service.

The drugs were approved for use in the UK last year by the UK's medicines regulator but the NHS spending watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), said they could not be used in the NHS because the benefits are 'too small' to justify the cost.

Now charities Cure Parkinson's and Alzheimer's Research UK have joined forces to find current drugs that may tackle some of the common biology behind both diseases.