April 30, 2024 – People with multiple sclerosis who took a drug containing gold nanocrystals each day for nearly three years improved their vision.
Vision problems are a virtually universal symptom of multiple sclerosis (MS), a potentially disabling disease of the brain and spinal cord. Almost 1 million people within the USA have MS. According to 1 estimate, vision problems are sometimes the first character of the disease. Damage to nerve fibers could cause quite a lot of symptoms, sometimes including lack of the flexibility to walk. There is not any cure for MS.
The latest study results, detailed on the American Academy of Neurology conference in Denver this month showed that greater than half of participants improved their performance on a low-contrast letter vision test by 10 letters. The test uses charts just like those utilized in standard eye exams, during which letters are read from top to bottom as they get smaller. Some participants within the study improved by 38 letters on the test, in keeping with one Press release from the pharmaceutical manufacturer Clene Nanomedicine.
The results haven't yet been published in a peer-reviewed journal and are available from a treatment period added to a Phase 2 trial. clinical study the experimental treatment called CNM-Au8. The first study involved individuals with relapsing MS aged 18 to 55 who had had MS for 15 years or less. The prolonged study included 55 people, a few of whom took CNM-Au8 for the primary 48-week study period, while the others took a placebo after which switched to CNM-Au8 for the 96-week extension period.
Clene Nanomedicine's press release also reported evidence of improvements in mental abilities and dealing memory, in addition to signs of a central nervous system repair process called remyelination.
CNM-Au8 can penetrate the blood-brain barrier but is slowly absorbed, in keeping with an article concerning the drug published within the journal eClinical Medicine in 2023. The Study 2023 found that CNM-Au8 could only be quantified in human blood samples after 3 to 4 weeks and that tissue levels measured in animals leveled off after greater than 6 months of each day oral administration of the drug.