Leading figures from the medical and pharmaceutical world attended a breakfast meeting in central London last week to hear Professor Moussa Youdim, director of the Eve Topf Neurodegenerative Diseases Centre at the Technion, Haifa and a world-renowned expert in the development of drugs to treat Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

The event, hosted by law firm Mishcon de Reya, had a live video link-up to Prof Youdim in Israel. Professionals from hospitals across London as well as research universities and leading pharmaceutical companies took part in the round table discussion.

Rare discovery

Prof Youdim talked about his discovery of Rasagiline, a new drug which marks a major breakthrough in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease. The drug was made available in the UK last year by Teva Pharmaceuticals, under the brand name Azilect.

In a study of 687 Parkinson’s patients from Israel, Argentina and Europe, Azilect and Entracapone were compared when used with the drug Levodopa.

Both drugs reduced the time each day that patients suffered from impaired movement but while Entacapone must be taken several times a day, Azilect can be taken just once a day.

Azilect has been a revelation for David Picken, 69, from Bedfordshire, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in his mid 40’s.

“I thought I’d tried all the treatments when a consultant at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge suggested I took part in the Azilect trial,” he said.

“I didn’t have high hopes, but was willing to try anything. I’ve been on the trial for nearly five years and it is still working. I get the occasional tremor, but my life has changed completely. The drug has given me back the freedom to carry on with life.”

Further developments

Professor Youdim said, “Rasagiline is more advanced than any other drug produced to treat patients with Parkinson’s disease. The Technion are also developing multifunctional drugs able to treat Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s as well as depression. All drugs currently attack the symptoms rather than the disease itself but recent studies have suggested that Rasagiline may be the first drug ever to have a disease modifying effect.”

Dr Doug MacMahon, a consultant treating Parkinson’s patients in Redruth, Cornwall, says the drug offers new hope.

“The drug was originally designed to relieve the symptoms of the disease, but in tests researchers also found it slowed Parkinson’s when given very early on.”

Lois Peltz, co-chair of the British Technion Society, the leading British organisation promoting education, science and technology through the support of the Technion, commented, “This was a fantastic opportunity to share our knowledge with some of the leading figures in drug research in the UK.”

He added, “The Technion’s drug development programme has seen new drugs recently launched on the UK market. We look forward to working with the companies and organisations we have met with today on future projects which will revolutionise the way in which we live our lives.”