Isreali company creates Azilect - the one-a-day Parkinson's pill
Israel 21C
06/19/06

The FDA approved an Israeli created pill intended to treat Parkinson's disease. Previous treatments required multiple dosages per day but the Israeli drug, Azilect, only requires a single dosage per day. The drug was designed by Professors Moussa Youdim and John Finberg at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa in conjunction with the Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva. The drug's creators hope it repairs damage to the brain caused by parkinsons, doesn’t just prevent its spread. They believe that drug might treat other neurological disorders. Israeli scientists are also working on another treatment for Parkinsons using adult stem cells. Adult stem cells share many of the positives of embryonic stem cells without the moral and philosophical problems that bother some people. A second Israel company Brainstorm Cell Therapeutics has created a treatment by which a patients own bone cells can be used to produce dopamine. This has shown success in rats and the company hopes to test in on humans in the near future.
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